Paper Thin Batteries Made out of Nasty Green Algae

Battery technology may be in for an upgrade, finally, and it’s likely to come from nasty algae. It could be the biggest development since the Lithium Polymer battery, although it isn’t likely to replace the technology. This is a little frustrating since our portable electronics are becoming more powerful while our batteries aren’t lasting any longer. There are some worthy advantages here though.

One of the biggest problems in using polymers for batteries to develop a thin, flexible, green and lightweight product was that all of the materials failed to maintain charge after repeated use. Adding a little of the green algae known as Cladophora to the mix seems to be the key. This is advantageous since the material is readily available and fairly easy to manufacture. This makes the new battery cheap, very cheap and also easily disposable.

Next, this particular type of polymer battery would be able to hold more charge than anything else like it available. This doesn’t include our Lithium Polymer batteries, but if production takes off it’s likely that battery life will start matching its performance. However, the battery would last longer, being able to hold more charge after prolonged use. What is really interesting is that although it may not power a device as long as the Li-Poly batteries, it will be able to recharge INCREDIBLY fast. Where was a regular battery may take an hour or more to recharge, batteries using the algae would recharge in a matter of minutes. I personally think this would pave the way for inductive charging solutions. Sure it may be faster to plug it in, but inductively, it would seem that charging this battery would take as long as plugging in a Li-Poly battery.

While this technology isn’t meant to replace what you’re currently using in your laptop, it does open the doors to many additional products, ones that don’t exist yet. The battery that could be developed using the algae could be used in anything flexible. The source states, “clothing and packaging” but a cheap, biodegradable, thin and flexible battery-- that nearly meets the life of a Li-Poly --could have limitless applications.

Now if only I could be hired onto a research team like this. Hint hint, I do have a BS in EE.

Sources: LiveScience via Engadget

Image is of an experimental paper battery. Credit: The American Chemical Society