High demand for the batteries that store generated energy and power engines is being sparked by growing demand for renewable energy and electric vehicles. However, the batteries that power these sustainability solutions aren’t usually themselves sustainable. In an article that comes out on September 1 in the journal Matter, scientists build a zinc battery with an electrolyte made from crab shells.
According to main author Liangbing Hu, director of the University of Maryland‘s Center for Materials Innovation, “vast quantities of batteries are being created and consumed, creating the risk of environmental consequences.” For example, polypropylene and polycarbonate separators, which are often found in lithium-ion batteries, can take hundreds or even thousands of years to break down and are therefore bad for the environment.
Ions are transported back and forth between positively and negatively charged terminals by an electrolyte in batteries. A battery’s electrolyte, which can be a liquid, paste, or gel, sometimes contains flammable or caustic compounds. This new type of battery stores energy from large-scale wind and solar sources in a gel electrolyte made of chitosan, a biological substance.
“Chitin is the parent substance of chitosan. “There are numerous sources of chitin, such as the exoskeletons of crustaceans, squid pens, and the cell walls of fungi,” Hu explains. “The exoskeletons of crustaceans, such as crabs, shrimp, and lobsters, are the most common source of chitosan and are easily collected from seafood waste. It’s sitting there on your table. ”
This chitosan electrolyte totally degraded within five months, making it a biodegradable electrolyte, which indicates that around two thirds of the battery might be broken down by bacteria. Instead of the recyclable lead or lithium, the metal component is left behind, in this case, zinc.
According to Hu, the earth’s crust has more zinc than lithium. In general, well-designed zinc batteries are more affordable and secure. This zinc and chitosan battery has a 99.7% energy efficiency after 1,000 battery cycles. This makes it a good choice for storing wind and solar energy before sending it to power grids.
Hu and his group intend to keep trying to make batteries, including the manufacturing process, even more environmentally friendly. Hu says, “In the future, I hope all battery components are biodegradable.” “Not just the substance itself, but also the biomaterial manufacturing process.”
