A new study done by researchers from the University of Binghamton University, State University at New York, claims that batteries in the future may be made out of paper. The research team has created a biodegradable and paper-based battery, which is much more efficient than batteries made up until now.
The research paper, titled “Green Biobatteries: Hybrid Paper-Polymer Microbial Fuel Cells,” was published recently in the journal Advanced Sustainable Systems. The whole scientific community has been working for a long time to come up with a possible solution for eco-friendly alternative and they came with the possibility of developing paper-based batteries, but the proposed designs have never been quite powerful enough. They have also have been quite difficult to produce and scientists were also divided on the question of them being actually biodegradable or not.
The new design created by the research team from can solve all these problems. Seokheun “Sean” Choi, Associate Professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of BU, along with Omowunmi Sadik, Professor at the BU’s Chemistry Department, worked together on this project. Choi engineered the design of the battery and Sadik made sure that the battery was a self-sustaining battery.
“There’s been a dramatic increase in electronic waste and this may be an excellent way to start reducing that,” said Choi. “Our hybrid paper battery exhibited a much higher power-to-cost ratio than all previously reported paper-based microbial batteries.”
The bio-batteries use a hybrid combination of paper and engineered polymers. The polymers – poly (amic) acid and poly (pyromellitic dianhydride-p-phenylenediamine) gave the batteries their biodegrading properties. The research team tested the degradation of the battery in water and the battery degraded and that too, without requiring any of the special facilities, conditions or introducing other microorganisms.
The best thing about the biodegradable, paper-based batteries is that the polymer-paper structures are lightweight, flexible and low-cost at the same time. According to Choi, the flexibility of the batteries also add to its many benefits.”Power enhancement can be potentially achieved by simply folding or stacking the hybrid, flexible paper-polymer devices,” said Choi.
The research team said that producing the biobatteries is a simple and quite straightforward process. The material developed by them also allows for modifications but that depends on what configurations are needed.
The whole scientific community has been working for a long time to come up with a possible solution for an eco-friendly alternative and they came with the possibility of developing paper-based batteries.