Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a battery that runs
on sugar and could one day replace traditional batteries with ones that are
cheaper, refillable and biodegradable.
Other batteries that are powered by sugar have been developed
before but scientists say this one has an unmatched energy density, which
enables it to run far longer before needing to be refilled.
These new sugar-based batteries could run smartphones, tablets
and video games in three years, according to Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate
professor of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech.
"Sugar is a perfect energy storage compound in
nature," Zhang said. "So it's only logical that we try to harness
this natural power in an environmentally friendly way to produce a
battery."
Creating a stronger, longer-lasting, environmentally friendly
battery has been getting a lot of research attention.
The U.S. Department of Energy is in the second year of a
five-year, $120-million project to spur scientists to find a way to
dramatically extend battery life.
Last fall, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of
Technology reported that they had built a flexible battery out of carbon nanotubes that could
power everything from tablet computers
to electric cars.
Scientists at the University of the West of England,
Bristol and the University of Bristol worked together to come up with a
potential way to enable robots to operate without a battery at all. They
announced this past November that they built a system that will enable robots
to function using an unusual source -- urine.
At Virginia Tech, researchers built a non-natural synthetic
enzymatic pathway that strips all charge potentials from the sugar to generate
electricity in an enzymatic fuel cell. Then, inexpensive biocatalyst enzymes
are used as catalysts instead of costly platinum, which is typically used in
conventional batteries.
The fuel cells in the new battery would combine the maltodextrin
from the sugar with air to generate electricity.
Since the battery is refillable, more sugar can be added to it
like filling the gas tank of a car.
Courtesy: IT News
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