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Charge your cellphone battery with plant power

BioVoltThose whacky MIT kids harvest energy from the darndest things. First they go and figure out how to generate electricity by walking around, and now another group of MIT students have developed a method for turning plant waste into power.

The team of students developed a microbial fuel cell they call the BioVolt as part of the MADMEC contest. The BioVolt isn't really intended for use in developed countries, but could be helpful in developing nations where citizens rely on cellphones for communication but often don't have access to the electricity they need to charge the batteries.

The BioVolt team is applying for patents so they won't say exactly what materials are used in the fuel cell, but they say it should be possible to produce the cells for about $2 each.

[via New Scientist]

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