August 29, 2018

Soon we could be using batteries made from paper and bacteria

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The technology and science behind batteries have come along way in the past decade with batteries now being smaller, lighter and lasting longer than ever before. As with all electronic products, there is electronic waste produced and as the world starts to rely more and more on technology we need to be more conscious of this waste and ways to combat it.

Scientists at the State University of New York have been working on a new type of battery that aims to help reduce this waste. They have been developing a battery made from paper that uses a form of bacteria to produce energy. The battery is created by stacking thin layers of printed materials onto pieces of paper and then introducing exoelectrogens. This is a bacteria that has the ability to move electrons outside of their cells, when this is combined with salvia or water power is produced.

Currently, the scientists have been able to create a battery that is capable of powering a calculator along with an LED. There are currently other limitations on the batteries, they are only able to store the energy for around 4 months and can currently only be used once. While the battery isn't currently much use to the everyday person they could potentially make a difference in parts of the world where resources are limited.