Mushroom, The Smallest Power Plant

Have you ever imagined a plant producing electricity? We know that sun and wind are considered as the future of power but a new member has been added to the list i.e simple button mushroom. It is very well known fact that mushroom is a spore bearing fruiting body of fungus but how can it help in the production of electricity?

This form of electricity is generated without the use of fossil fuels with the help of 3D printed materials and some bacterias using cyanobacteria and graphene.

Cyanobacteria is a photosynthetic bacteria which is also known as blue green algae. While the process of photosynthesis it produces some energy and some amount of electrons are also released in the surrounding. With the help of this bacteria the scientist designed a 3D printed mixture and printed it on the mushroom body. The light induced electrical current was noted to be much greater than the natural production.

Graphene is a form of carbon only which has some amount of electrical conductivity and has a thin body, it was suitable for being the base of 3D printing ink for the collection of electricity produced from the bacteria on to the mushroom.

This process is preferable because electricity is generated with the help of bacteria's natural photosynthesis by which large amount of CO₂ is abandoned. With the success of this experiment the scientist believe that rather than this property of energy production the bacteria is useful in other functions too and can help in future experiments as well.