Bacterial nanometric amorphous Fe-based oxide as lithium-ion battery anode material
Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - 05:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Leptothrix ochracea is a species of iron-oxidizing bacteria that exists in natural hydrospheres where groundwater outwells worldwide. Intriguingly, the bacterium produces Fe3+-based amorphous oxide particles (ca 3 nm diameter; Fe3+:Si4+:P5+～73:22:5) that readily assemble into microtubular sheaths encompassing the bacterial cell (ca 1 μm diameter, ca 2 mm length, Fig. 1). The mass of such sheaths (named L-BIOX : Biogenous Iron Oxide produced byLeptothrix) has been usually regarded as useless waste, but Jun Takada and colleagues at Okayama University discovered unexpected industrial functions of L-BIOX such as a great potential as an anode material in lithium-ion battery.