Battery powered by sugar-VATechPhotoA Virginia Tech research team has created a battery that runs on sugar and has an unmatched energy density for long-lasting power. The development could replace conventional batteries with ones that are cheaper, refillable, and biodegradable.

In as soon as three years, Zhang’s new battery could be running some of the cell phones, tablets, video games, and the myriad other electronic gadgets with ten times the battery life that lithium-ion offers, said Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering, in a paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

“Sugar is a perfect energy storage compound in nature,” Zhang told Virginia Tech News. “So it’s only logical that we try to harness this natural power in an environmentally friendly way to produce a battery.”

(READ the story in the Guardian)

Photo: Virginia Tech – Thanks to Andrew N. for sending the link!

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