Paper-thin Batteries Made from Algae
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Thursday, 03 December 2009 10:10 |
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 How would sound to make someone a gift in a form of a piece of paper which lights up showing words like "Happy Anniversary." This thing could be possible thanks a new biodegradable battery made of cellulose.
Scientists from all over the world trying to develop thin, flexible, lightweight, inexpensive, environmentally friendly batteries built totally from nonmetal parts. Conducting polymers are among the most promising materials for these batteries but until now this hasn't been quite possible because they couldn't hold a charge for a long time.
A green algae known as Cladophora seems to be the solution for this new battery. This plant can be found on beaches all over the world.
The cellulose made by this algae has a very large surface area which is 100 times bigger than the cellulose found in paper, allowing scientist to increase a couple of times the amount of conducting polymer available for use in the new device, making it possible to better recharge, hold and discharge electricity.
A nanotechnologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, Maria Strømme, declared: "We have long hoped to find some sort of constructive use for the material from algae blooms and have now been shown this to be possible." She continued: "This creates new possibilities for large-scale production of environmentally friendly, cost-effective, lightweight energy storage systems."
The new batteries are made of extremely thin layers of conducting polymer just 40 to 50 nanometers or billionths of a meter wide coating algae cellulose fibers only 20 to 30 nanometers wide that were collected into paper sheets.
They could sustain from 50 to 200 percent more charge than similar conducting polymer batteries, and after the technology is optimized, they can become a serious contender to commercial lithium batteries. Another great thing is the fact that they recharge in a short time, from 11 seconds to eight minutes, while conventional rechargeable batteries take at least one hour.
This new battery showed 6% percent loss through 100 charging cycles, while a comparable polymer battery showed a 50 percent drop in the amount of charge it could hold after 60 cycles of discharging and recharging.
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