Scientists have successfully demonstrated a concept of sugar biobattery that converts chemical energy in sugar substrates into electricity.
Batteries contain electrochemical cells that convert chemical energy into electrical energy, and food items have a similar ability to do so.
“We are the first to demonstrate the complex oxidation of the biobattery’s sugar so we achieve a near-theoretical energy conversion yield that no one else has reported,” said Y H Percival Zhang, chief science officer of Cell Free BioInnovations at Virginia Tech.
The energy density of sugar is considerably higher than that of the normal lithium-ion batteries.
The sugar-powered biobattery is capable of achieving an energy-storage density of about 596 ampere-hours per kilogram (A-h/kg), against the 42 A-h/kg energy density of lithium-ion battery.
Additionally, the sugar biobattery with such energy density can run for approximately ten times longer than the lithium-ion battery of similar capacity.
Apart from its high energy density, the sugar biobattery is cheaper than the lithium-ion battery. Besides, it is refillable, environment-friendly and nonflammable.
The sugar biobattery is a type of enzymatic fuel cell (EFC), an electrobiochemical device that converts chemical energy from starch and glycogen into electricity. The enzymes allow for the use of more complex fuels such as glucose, which give EFCs great energy density.
Source: Yahoo
