Could these simple materials turn the tide on battery technology?
Though lithium-ion batteries have had a stranglehold on the battery technology market since the nineties, a new generation of battery technology could soon see the world powered by some surprising alternatives. Many of which you’d find on a trip to the beach. Could the answer to our energy storage challenges be right at our feet?
Scientists are exploring these natural alternatives for more sustainable, efficient, and high-performing batteries and components. Here’s a list of just a few abundant materials that could soon help power our devices, cars and homes.
Yep, you read that right. Batteries can now grow on trees. Well, sort of. Researchers have been exploring ways to use Lignin (pronounced lig-nuhn) as alternative battery componentry. What’s lignin? Well, it’s the stuff that makes trees woody.
Carbon nanotube fibres derived from lignin can be used to create more flexible and durable batteries. What does this mean for us? Well, using wood instead of the usual mix would reduce reliance on non-renewable materials and make batteries lightweight too – which is great news for portable electronics. It’s also possible to extract Lignin from waste pulp from paper manufacturing making it a real win for the environment. We could see Lignin based batteries hit the market as soon as 2025.
Gross, really? Yes, we are talking about the slimy stuff that grows in ponds, the ocean, or maybe your pool when you haven’t cleaned it for a while. Biochemists at Cambridge University have found a way to harness blue-green algae to power a microprocessor continuously for a year – using only light and water.
The photosynthesising battery doesn’t run down, because light is its energy source. And it’s roughly the same size as an AA battery.
Finally, a use for that quick-growing stuff we’re trying to keep from taking over our waterways. This natural speedy growth process could one day be charging our devices and powering our homes through the internet of things.
Whether you like them on your dinner plate and popping up in the garden (or not) mushrooms are proving to be nature's powerhouses, in more ways than one. It turns out that Super Mario really was onto something.
Recent research has shown that metal nanoparticles can be attached to mushrooms to create batteries that outperform graphite-based lithium ion-batteries (the type used in almost every rechargeable electronic device).
Other researchers are looking into the age-defying potential of portabella mushroom skins. Unlike regular batteries which become less reliable as they age, the high potassium and salt concentration in these mushroom skins seems to result in improved capacity over time. It’s wild – and might hold the solution to more sustainable batteries.
Oh, and mushrooms are biodegradable of course – which is more environmentally friendly too.
We’ve all hot-footed it across scalding hot sand to cool off in the water, but what if this familiar Aussie summer experience could be harnessed to heat an entire city? The idea is so simple it’s got to be impossible right? Wrong! In fact, hot-sand power might eventually become a common sight at Australian factories looking to reduce their gas consumption.
In Finland, inventors have just proved their concept with the world’s very first commercial sand battery. In the town of Kankaanpää, homes, offices and a public swimming pool are all being heated by thermal energy stored in a big 100-ton silo filled with sand.
How does that work? Well as most Aussies know, sand can really hold onto heat. But what you may not know is that sand can store heat at about 500-600 degrees Celsius for months at a time. This means solar power generated in the summer can be used to heat homes in the winter, or, say directed to a steam drum to generate industrial steam. This stored thermal can then be used for everything from food processing to manufacturing iron and steel.
Though the main applications are for heating only, we think it’s cool in a glaringly simple why-didn't-we-think-of-it kind of way.
What if batteries could rely on regular-old table salt instead of lithium as their primary ingredient? That would be world-changing, wouldn't it?
Well, scientists have figured out a few different ways to do it and the competition are pretty salty about it, because the hero ingredient (sodium) is abundant, cheap and doesn’t have the habit of catching fire and burning uncontrollably the way that other chemical batteries can.
Salt-based batteries are safer, greener, and like any new technology in the process of becoming increasingly cost-effective. Salt can be used in a couple of different ways too!
Sodium-ion batteries can perform as a direct replacement for lithium-ion batteries we’re familiar with while saltwater (aqueous) batteries operate a bit differently – using saline to capture and store electricity for later use.
Although saltwater batteries take up more room than their lithium counterparts (for now) they’re great contenders for grid storage and large-scale applications where safety and sustainability are crucial. With opportunities for new battery technology as wide and deep as the ocean, we can’t wait to see what other innovations the turning tide of the renewables transition brings in.
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