14 DAY TRIAL // In the future, you could really juice up your cell phone with sugar!
A team at Saint Louis University in Missouri have designed a fuel cell battery that works on virtually any sugared stuff, from soft drinks to tree sap and can operate three to four times longer on a sole charge than lithium ion batteries.
The new biodegradable battery could eventually replace the "old" ones in many portable electronic applications, even computers. "This study shows that renewable fuels can be directly employed in batteries at room temperature to lead to more energy-efficient battery technology than metal-based approaches," said study leader Dr. Shelley Minteer, an electrochemist at Saint Louis University. "It demonstrates that by bridging biology and chemistry, we can build a better battery that's also cleaner for the environment."
In fact, glucose, the most common simple sugar, is the main molecule organism burn to achieve energy. "While nature has figured out how to harness this energy efficiently, scientists only recently have learned how to unleash the energy-dense power of sugar to produce electricity," said Minteer.
There are also others researches that investigated fuel cell batteries running on sugar, but this one is the longest-lasting and most powerful of its type to date.
Minteer employed a small prototype of the battery (about the size of a postage stamp) to successfully put in function a handheld calculator. "If the battery continues to show promise during further testing and refinement, it could be ready for commercialization in three to five years," she estimated.
"The military is interested in using the sugar battery to charge portable electronic equipment on the battlefield and in emergency situations where access to electricity is limited. These devices include remote sensors for detecting biological and chemical weapons. Devices could be instantly recharged by adding virtually any convenient sugar source, including plant sap," said Minteer.
All sugar batteries are endowed with enzymes that turn sugar into electricity, leaving behind water and carbon dioxide as the main byproducts. Unlike in other fuel cells, all of the materials the sugar battery is made of are biodegradable. The battery works well on glucose, flat sodas, sweetened drink mixes and tree sap, but carbonated beverages decrease their efficacy, as carbonation seems to weaken the fuel cell. "The best fuel source tested so far is ordinary table sugar (sucrose) dissolved in water," she said.
The first applications for the sugar fuel cell could be a portable cell phone recharger, similar to the quick rechargers already on the market that permit instant charges of the cell phones while "on the go."
These rechargers would harbor special cartridges pre-filled with a sugar solution and which could be replaced when they're used up.
Further, the sugar battery could be used as a stand-alone battery replacement in many portable electronic devices. "Future work includes modifying the battery's performance for varying environmental conditions, including high temperatures, and extending the life of the battery," Minteer said.