A Swiss lab may have a recipe for biodegradable batteries of the future

Swiss EMPA has been working on a paper, ink and wax-based model for 10 years and is already functional.

While there are already sand cells to store energy, what you really need to power your electronic devices is, other types of accumulators functional, autonomous and efficient; and there is a Swiss lab (i.e. EMPA or Swiss Federal Materials Science and Technology Laboratory) that seems to have found a “simple” solution with a recipe. looks like something out of chemistry class:

You’ll have to wait a bit for now – we already see you’re heading towards hyper. buy charcoal, candles and pencils— because the development of these biodegradable “batteries” is not yet applicable to real use cases. With that, if you’re on summer vacation and left the Switch charger at home, the ballot isn’t going to untie you. Now, what it can power are small electronic devices.

To be unbearably precise, we say that the EMPA prototype is capable of producing 150 µW/cm² at 0.5 milliamps. get a voltage of 0.2 volts. Actually not much, but for diabetics to run self-diagnostic devices, maintain the temperature of vaccines or even to power the alarm clock. Check out the “ingredients” list to understand how these batteries work, and scroll down to see how they all fit together, according to EMPA.

“battery […] made with at least one square centimeter cell, consisting of a rectangular sheet of paper printed with three inks. Salt, which is nothing but common salt (sodium chloride), is spread along the paper strip and the candle is impregnated on one of the short sides. An ink on one of the sides flakes of graphite that act as the positive pole of the battery (cathode), while the other prints the other zinc dust inkserving as Negative pole (anode). A third ink containing graphite flakes and carbon black is applied to both sides of the sheet, about other inks. Second, it creates current collectors that connect the poles to two wires connected to the ends of the cell.”

“collecting small amount of waterSalts absorbed into the paper dissolve, releasing charged ions and causing the electrolyte to conduct them. These ions disperse onto the paper, activating the battery and oxidizing the zinc in the ink. release electrons. Electrons are transferred from the zinc anode, closing the circuit (externally). with graphite and carbon ink, cables and device, up to graphite cathode. This reduces the oxygen in the environment. Thus, this redox reaction produces an electric current. capable of powering an external electronic device“.

now you will understand why Gustav Nystrom and his team have been working on this class of biodegradable batteries for 10 years. We can only imagine a world in it. let’s not be dependent on lithium, cobalt or aluminum; Where batteries are made from pieces of printed paper that feed themselves with water to work.