Chemistry in the News: Smart, eco-friendly new battery made of seeds and pine resin
"Present-day lithium batteries are efficient but involve a range of resource and environmental problems. Using materials from alfalfa (luceme seed) and pine resin and a clever recycling strategy, researchers have now come up with a highly interesting alternative."
We can all agree that we are moving towards a more eco-friendly world here in which we all live in. I ran across this article and immediately tuned in due to prior knowledge of the efficiency of our present-day lithium batteries yet knowing the range of resource and environmental problems that come along with them. Due to the complexity and rareness of things needed to uphold lithium batteries, this discovery could be vital to the future energy system.
The researchers at Uppsala University's Angstrom Laboratory have developed an entirely new battery concept based on recovery and renewable biological material with an energy content corresponding to that of the present-day lithium-ion batteries. The battery is made up of renewable organic biomaterials from alfalfa and pine resin and it can be recycled with low energy input and non-hazardous chemicals, such as ethanol and water. This is such a huge difference from the present-day lithium battery which contains rarer materials and are hard to replace and require large energy inputs and toxic chemicals for the recovery process. This new discovery of the new battery proved capable of delivering as much as 99 percent of the energy output from the first and it is said that with future modifications, this figure can become higher.
I look forward to the presentation of this study to the scientific journal ChemSusChem as I will be following this story to see the future of this discovery.
References:
- Stéven Renault, Daniel Brandell, Kristina Edström. Environmentally-Friendly Lithium Recycling From a Spent Organic Li-Ion Battery. ChemSusChem, 2014; DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201402440
- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140929094039.htm
This is very interesting because I would say that I am not fond lithium batteries because of their hazardous abilities toward the environment. If the power delivery works as well as the lithium, and if the last at a decent amount of time, I would buy them.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting way to find a new power source and could help in many products.
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