Scientists have developed a battery that can run from soft drinks. One of the first uses for the fuel-cell battery, powered by almost any type of sugar, could be as a portable mobile phone charger. The device would contain special cartridges filled with a sugar solution which could be replaced when they were empty.
Researchers at St Louis University in Missouri believe their idea could eventually replace lithium in batteries in many portable electronic applications, including computers. The biodegradable battery contains enzymes that convert fuel - in this case, from sugar - into electricity, leaving behind water as a main by-product. The team have used glucose, flat fizzy drinks, sweetened drink mixes and tree sap, but the best fuel source they have found so far is simple table sugar dissolved in water. The battery could be ready for consumers in three to five years, but the US military is interested in using it to charge equipment on battlefields. [source]
Of course, as soon as a positive, biodegradable solution to energy consumption is considered, the US military is planning its next war. Why charge mobile phones when you can blow up a village? Sugar-coated energy from the country that gave us "friendly fire".
.
Add to del.icio.us
0 comments:
Post a Comment
If you got this far, you should probably leave a comment, no?