Is sugar the new form of electricity?

Percival Zhang and Zhiguang Zhu showing
the prototype of their bio-battery

Once in a while, everyone experiences extreme weakness after a tough energy-consuming action such as a sports training. The logical reaction to this, is to feed your body with some sugar-containing nutrition. “What if we developed a new type of battery based on this principle?” So have thought Percival Zhang and Zhiguang Zhu, two researchers at Virginia Tech, as they developed an innovative energy-generating device. These scientists invented a bio-battery, based on a new recycling enzyme system, in which sugar is converted into electric energy. 

Competitive advantages?

First of all, these batteries have a greater output per weight compared to the traditional lithium-ion batteries. This provides them with a greater battery charge, making the bio-batteries more powerful than the common ones. That way, the battery of any portable electronic device will last seven up to ten days instead of just one. On top of that, they are renewable and non-toxic, unlike their lithium-ion equivalents that contain heavy metals and chemicals that harm the environment.

Click the image to read how the process works!

Challenges?

At this moment, the bio-battery is not yet optimized. As a consequence, its power output is too low and the bio-battery is not yet rechargeable. Luckily, Zhang and Zhu guarantee that these issues will be fixed and the battery will be ready for commercial purposes within three years.

And what about you? What do you think of charging your computer with sugar?

Greetings,

Jacinta, Iwein and Dennis!