Crab shells can also be used as batteries! Completely decomposable within 5 months

2023-12-21

With the rise of new energy and the increasing demand for electric vehicles, people have a higher demand for batteries. However, batteries are very expensive and there is a risk of fire. Recently, scientists from the United States have made new breakthroughs in the field of batteries.

According to a report by Science and Technology Daily today, scientists at the University of Maryland in the United States have invented a zinc based battery made from crab shells, which is more easily biodegradable than lithium-ion batteries.

Hu Liangbing, director of the Materials Innovation Center at the University of Maryland, said that the production and consumption of a large number of batteries have increased their impact on the environment. For example, polypropylene and polycarbonate separators widely used in lithium-ion batteries take hundreds or thousands of years to degrade.

It is understood that the newly developed battery uses a biological material called chitosan to make gel electrolyte, which can store power from large-scale wind and solar energy.

Researchers have pointed out that chitosan has a rich source, mainly from the exoskeletons of crustaceans, including crabs, shrimp, and lobsters, which are easily obtained from seafood waste.

In addition, chitosan electrolyte can completely decompose within 5 months, leaving only zinc metal components after degradation, rather than lead or lithium. Moreover, zinc in the Earth's crust is more abundant than lithium, making mature zinc batteries cheaper and safer.

This chitosan zinc battery has a very high recycling rate, with an energy efficiency of 99.7% after 1000 battery cycles. In the future, this type of battery will be a good choice for storing wind and solar energy conversion energy.

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