Create a biodegradable battery made of paper
Batteries made of paper? Could these be the batteries that await us in the future?
A team of researchers from Binghamton University in New York (USA) has created an incredibly efficient paper-based biodegradable battery. So much so that it is possible that the batteries of the future are made ... of paper, which would not only help thanks to its greater efficiency but would also serve to reduce the electronic waste that we generate in the future.
For years, there has been enthusiasm in the scientific community about the possibility that paper batteries are a plausible ecological alternative. However, the proposed designs were never powerful enough, were difficult to produce and were not exactly biodegradable, which dismantled the possibilities of these batteries as an ecological alternative.
The new design solves all these problems.
Researcher Seokheun "Sean" Choi from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor Omowunmi Sadik from the Department of Chemistry worked together on the project. Choi was responsible for the design of the paper battery, while Sadik made the device a self-sustaining "bio-battery".
"There has been a dramatic increase in electronic waste and this can be an excellent way to start reducing them." Our hybrid paper battery exhibited a much higher power / cost ratio than all paper microbial batteries previously exposed, "Choi explains. the Advanced Sustainable Systems magazine that includes the study.
How does it work?
The biobattery uses a hybrid of paper and engineering polymers. The polymers in question are lightweight, low cost and also very flexible. Producing the batteries is quite simple, because the material allows all kinds of modifications according to the necessary configuration.
The polymers that are used, polyamic acid and poly-pyromellitic dianhydride-p-phenylenediamine are responsible for their excellent biodegradation properties. They performed a battery degradation test in water and easily biodegraded without special facilities, conditions or introduction of other microorganisms. A simple and cheap process.
This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (National Foundation for Science, based in the United States) and was conducted through the Research Center on Advanced Technologies for Detection and Environmental Sustainability.
It is necessary?
It is true that with the exception of lead-starting and deep-discharge lead-acid batteries, recycling in this field is quite disappointing in every way. Alkaline batteries are quite harmful, some of the rechargeable batteries we know are toxic. That is why it is so important that battery technology is also safe after use, when we have to get rid of them.
What we have just seen is the first step of many, but it is clear that we are going in the right direction.
