Posted on 02/07/2021 3:17:14 PM PST by mabarker1
Waste fibers from hemp crops out-perform graphene for a thousandth of the cost, according to new research
Is there anything hemp can’t do? A year after hemp became legal to grow in the United States, we’ve seen its power to make better clothing, better buildings and better medicine.
Now, there’s something else hemp appears to be better at – making batteries.
Most auto batteries today are made from lithium-ion, an expensive, quickly disappearing material.
A team of American and Canadian researchers have developed a battery that could be used in cars and power tools using hemp bast fiber – the inner bark of the plant that usually ends up in landfill.
They “cooked” the woody pulp and processed them into carbon nanosheets, which they used to build supercapacitors “on a par with or better than graphene” – the industry gold standard.
Graphene is a synthetic carbon material lighter than foil yet bulletproof, but it is prohibitively expensive to make.
“We’re making graphene-like materials for a thousandth of the price – and we’re doing it with waste.”
Mitlin, a professor of chemical engineering at Clarkson University in New York, first published a description of his team’s battery in the journal ACS Nano in 2014.
More recently, a YouTuber named Robert Murray Smith, whose channel is all about batteries and put the hemp battery to the test against a lithium-ion battery and found it to be 8 times more powerful!
Tesla’s new million-mile battery is made from lithium-iron phosphate, which is supposed to last twice as long as conventional lithium-ion batteries.
While more abundant and cheaper than lithium-ion, lithium-iron-phosphate still can’t compete with the apparently far-more-powerful (and renewable) hemp!
And this is the last we will ever hear of it.
Good point.
somebody was consuming the study materials rather than doing science...
Nice find ! On my list
“Experts say”
NEVER question the experts. They are experts, we are little people.
energty density matter less for grid storage. If the price wper kilo is cheaper, it may be superior. of course then you get into cycles etc.
Hey Ma, who knew that cannibus sativa would save the world?
5.56mm
“The pot propaganda is strong in this one...”
*****
Weed’s staying power as the snake oil of the day, in various forms, is quite impressive.
These researchers likely have petrochemical companies beating on their door to license the technology and hire them directly.
Fake news.
Dude! They only need to grow like half as much herb as lithium, no wait-- it's like 1/8 as much! 1/8! Think how many natural resources... Oh #@*&^! #@*&^! I dropped my #@*&^!joint and burned my #@*&^!...
What do you feed a battery when it gets the munchies?
Five minutes later, the car wants its fluids topped off.
We've known this for decades!
Don’t worry if this works Kentucky will grow enough to power all of America.
Building super capacitors ain’t cheap
Dave’s not here. 😉
A Friend of Mine sent it to Me in a Text, I just passed it on here.
Cheech and Chong.
Lysergic acid diethylamide ?
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