Potential Green Algae-based Batteries
Almost every aspect of electronic devices has been vastly improved or at least miniaturized with fast technology development recently. Touchscreen displays are becoming common. Monitors and TVs are becoming thinner,larger, and the overall quality of their displays are improving as well.Processors are regularly miniaturized or get performance boosts.However,there have been few breakthroughs with batteries. We can’t enjoy all the rest of the new technology if our devices are dead. But fortunately,scientists at Uppsala University in Sweden are developing highly efficient and paper-thin batteries using cellulose produced by Cladophora, a type of green algae.
Cladophora,found in beaches worldwide, produce cellulose with an unusually large surface area, “100 times that of the cellulose found in paper”, which in turn made the scientists create batteries with a “dramatically larger amount” of conducting polymer. Conducting polymers are non-metallic conductors which can be used as battery material, but have been able to prove quite impractical for various reasons.
The algae cellulose-conducting polymer batteries made by the researchers in Uppsala University hold 50 to 200 percent more charge than similar conducting polymer batteries, and it is expected to compete with commercial lithium batteries… Charge times could also trump today’s rechargeables – the researchers managed to recharge their test batteries in anywhere from 8 minutes down to as little as 11 seconds.
In addition, these batteries are so thin that the Swedish researchers are looking into novel applications for them, like embedding them into wallpapers or clothes equipped with sensors that react to stimuli.This technology can also hopefully lead to laptops that literally last the whole day.