Mushroom - A Mini Power Plant?

Imagine powering our household electronics with mushrooms. Nope, it is not a fantasy. Researchers have created a bionic mushroom that has the ability to produce electricity. The American Chemical Society reports that the key to accomplishing the feat was outfitting the fungus with an energy producing bacteria and an electrode network.

Mushrooms are much more complex than it seems. They are host organisms for their own microbial communities, acting as little homes for other microorganisms like bacteria. From scientific experiments, we also know certain bacteria have electricity producing properties. Cyanobacteria for example is an extremely diverse group of bacteria that are photosynthetic (turning sunlight into energy). This photosynthetic process produces high-energy electrons, which can then be intercepted and used to produce an electric current. This is the concept behind producing electricity using mushrooms and it’s called bio photovoltaic cell.

To make the mushroom as efficient as possible, bacteria are 3D printed onto the mushrooms while the mushroom provides shelter, moisture and nutrients for the bacteria. These bacteria undergo photosynthesis and supply energy to the graphene nano ribbons also known as an electronic ink producing bio electricity. The graphene is what taps into the bacterial calls, intercepting the electrons and transferring into a small electric current. While the efforts were successful, numerous mushrooms are needed to light up an LED.

In future experiments, we could just add sunlight, wire a couple of mushrooms together with bacteria and this could generate electricity. Scientists are now trying to make the mushroom as efficient as possible and theoretically, a large scale mushroom farm could replace a power plant which is one of the culprits behind emission of CO2 resulting in global warming.

This type of project is what scientists are calling engineered symbiosis – exploiting an existing relationship between 2 or more organisms for human benefit. And this fascinating idea of using fungi to generate electricity has got scientists excited. Similar experiments are conducted all over the world such as where MIT engineers successfully designed a plant that glows in the dark. In finding solutions to humanity’s toughest problems, taking inspiration from nature might be the way forward.