Common bread mold eyed as future power source
On the quest for clean energy, Scottish scientists have stumbled upon a surprisingly unlikely source: a humble bread mold.
According to a Smithsonian.com report, reseachers are looking into the mold Neurospora crassa, or red bread mold. Based on the study spearheaded by microbiologist Geoffrey Gadd of the University of Dundee in eastern Scotland, these molds can change manganese chloride into a compound containing manganese oxides which contain electrochemical properties.
Power for electronic devices
Manganese oxides can be used as electrode materials for lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries. Li-on batteries are commonly used in a wide variety of electronics including phones, laptops and tablets. Their electrodes can be made the cheapest and the least toxic with manganese oxides, which, in this case, can come from household molds.
In their study published in Current Biology, Gadd wrote, “Biological materials, such as biomass from fungi, microalgae, or bacteria, have been used previously as sustainable carbon precursors for energy storage devices”
Additional tests done by Gadd’s colleagues in China showed that the materials derived from the red bread mold have favorable properties that can be used in Li-ion batteries. It also has much potential for use in rechargeable batteries, since after 200 charging cycles, the material only lost 10 percent of its capacity.
Fungi that process metals
The study branched off from Gadd’s main study, which focuses on fungi that process metals as part of their biological functions.
Gadd and his team have studied how fungi can convert from waste materials some of the rare and in-demand elements such as selenium and cobalt. The process, which is known as biorecovery, is now an emerging trend in fighting pollution and in keeping some of the rarest elements in circulation.
Not-so-common mold
However, Gadd was quick to point out that, despite being a bread mold, N. crassa is not as common as it might seem.
"Originally, when it was discovered, I think it was isolated from a piece of bread, but it's actually extremely rare," he told Smithsonian.com. "If your bread’s gone off, it’s actually from other organisms."
“The next step would be to properly explore [this work] in an applied context, to scale up, to improve performance, to investigate economics,” Gadd concluded. — Kiersnerr Gerwin Tacadena/TJD, GMA News