Be it tree sap or flat soda pop, virtually anything sugary can lead to future’s longer-lasting batteries! Taking cues from all living things that use sugar as fuel, Minteer and her colleagues have adapted enzymes from nature, capable of stripping charges from sugar generating electricity in fuel cells.
The scientists placed this enzyme into membranes that are composed of chitosan — a crab, shrimp and other crustacean-derived commercial compound. These membranes are then integrated into fuel cells to give birth to these ‘bio-batteries.’
Interesting, these sugar-powered ‘new batteries’ is capable of operating three to four times longer compared to the conventional lithium ion batteries, which are commonly used in cell phones, laptops, MP3 players including many other portable electronic devices.
And, to add to their environment-friendly feature, they are biodegradable.
In a prepared statement, researcher Shelley Minteer, an electrochemist at Saint Louis University in Missouri said,
By bridging biology and chemistry, we can build a better battery that’s also cleaner for the environment.
