Phimega Group Post #39

Algae help to make eco friendly batteries
posted by soliton at Fri, 25 Sep 2009 - 13:38:32

A group of researchers at the Angstrom Laboratory at Uppsala
University in Sweden have discovered that the distinctive cellulose
nanostructure of the green Cladophora algae can serve as an effective
coating substrate for use in environmentally friendly batteries.

Gustav Nystrom, a doctoral student in nanotechnology and the first
author of the research article claims that these algae have a special
cellulose structure characterised by a very large surface area. By
coating this structure with a thin layer of conducting polymer, a
battery can be produced that weighs almost nothing and that has set
new charge-time and capacity records for polymer-cellulose-based
batteries.

Despite extensive efforts in recent years to develop new
cellulose-based coating substrates for battery applications,
satisfactory charging performance proved difficult to obtain. However,
nobody had tried using algal cellulose.

Researcher Albert Mihranyan and Professor Maria Stromme at the
Nanotechnology and Functional Materials Department of Engineering
Sciences at the Angstrom Laboratory had been investigating
pharmaceutical applications of the cellulose from Cladophora algae for
a number of years. This type of cellulose has a unique nanostructure,
entirely different from that of terrestrial plants, that has been
shown to function well as a thickening agent for pharmaceutical
preparations and as a binder in foodstuffs.

The possibility of energy-storage applications was raised in view of
its large surface area. The research introduces an entirely new
electrode material for energy storage applications, consisting of a
nanostructure of algal cellulose coated with a 50 nm layer of
polypyrrole.

Batteries based on this material can store up to 600 mA per cm3, with
only 6 per cent loss through 100 charging cycles.

http://www.angstrom.uu.se/eng
http://www.elektor.com/news/algae-help-to-make-eco-friendly-batteries.1086446.lynkx?utm_source=UK&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

--
soliton
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