Nanostructured nickel electrodes using the Tobacco mosaic virus for microbattery applications

The development of nanostructured nickel–zinc microbatteries utilizing the Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is presented in this paper. The TMV is a high aspect ratio cylindrical plant virus which has been used to increase the active electrode area in MEMS-fabricated batteries. Genetically modifying the virus to display multiple metal binding sites allows for electroless nickel deposition and self-assembly of these nanostructures onto gold surfaces. This work focuses on integrating the TMV deposition and coating process into standard MEMS fabrication techniques as well as characterizing nickel–zinc microbatteries based on this technology. Using a microfluidic packaging scheme, devices with and without TMV structures have been characterized. The TMV modified devices demonstrated charge–discharge operation up to 30 cycles reaching a capacity of 4.45 μAh cm−2 and exhibited a six-fold increase in capacity during the initial cycle compared to planar electrode geometries. The effect of the electrode gap has been investigated, and a two-fold increase in capacity is observed for an approximately equivalent decrease in electrode spacing. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)