Sweet success for bio-battery

Chemistry World ^ | Katia Moskvitch | 28 January 2014

[Kevmo]

It’s probably biodegradable as well.

[Paladin2]

So, how does that compare to a ~2300 mAh NiMH AA battery?

# of recharge cycles?

[Paladin2]

Drink Ethanol, don’t burn it.

[Grimmy]

Huh.

I wonder how far away we are from bio implanted computers that can run off of the implanted person’s metabolism?

[aquila48]

“The prototype is similar in size to a typical AA battery and has an energy storage density of 596 amp hours per kilogram – roughly one order of magnitude greater than a smartphone’s lithium-ion battery. This means that the battery could last at least twice as long as conventional lithium-ion batteries on a weight-for-weight basis.”

UH? Supposedly the sugar battery has an energy storage density of 10 times that of lithium ion, but it could only last twice as long??

I must say after reading that my confidence level for the rest of the article was in bad need of recharging.

[Paladin2]

Is it rechargeable or not?

[onona]

I must say after reading that my confidence level for the rest of the article was in bad need of recharging.

I'm gonna keep my ion you.

[this_ol_patriot]

You fill it with maltodextrin.

[catnipman]

“Rechargeable, energy-dense bio-batteries running on sugar might be powering our electronic gadgets in as little as three years”

And then again, maybe not.

Magic battery tales are almost my favorites, but magic battery companies beat ‘em out for pure entertainment value every time.

[VanShuyten]

Hmmmm.

A liquid-filled battery that farts and you have to feed, making sure that everything is very clean, so it doesn’t get infected.

[Paladin2]

PBR won’t work?

[Norm Lenhart]

Welcome to the Matrix.

[Boiler Plate]

This is really more of an engine than a battery in that it burns fuel (sugar) instead of being recharged (by reversing the electro/chemical process like a lead acid battery).

It does have some very interesting possibilities if it can be scaled up to the point that you could run a car on these.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Hey, copper top...

[Boiler Plate]

Energy is measured in Joules or Watt hours. The article said it is 10 times more than Li-ion, which is 11.6 kWh, so this should be about 110 kWh.

The real question is what is the energy density of the fuel(sugar)? And can it run on Karo.

[catbertz]

Hopefully I don’t have to share my Mountain Dew with my laptop in the future.

[outofsalt]

Brilliant. However, I suppose any size larger than AA will be banned in New York City as being too dangerous due to its high sugar content.

[Boiler Plate]

That would be like Avgas for this thing wouldn't it?

[DB]

Density is volume (three dimensional space) to energy capacity.

Lithium is light weight. So this battery must be about 5 times heavier than a lithium battery of the same physical volume. At least that what it takes to make the article make sense...

It has to be refilled with fuel - sugar. It releases electricity, water and CO2. Getting rid of water with a phone seems like a problem... Not for a car though...