05 Aug This origami battery charging with the bathwater
A new battery of Binghamton University promises big news, here’s operation…
You all know what the ‘origami, the Japanese art as it is known, of which we have spoken very often so far, by the way this art, in brief, provides that the paper is folded in different ways to order to get various objects, sculptures that really like and with surprising attention to detail (have also been made of the robot, which really surprised the press). Today we own origami art, applied, however, to a battery: the study of engineers at Binghamton University in New York, who are trying to achieve a perfectly functioned battery powered water from bacteria.
We try to understand immediately the operation: the energy for recharging comes through microbial respiration, and it is easy to see why, then, this battery can charge via the bathwater. The usefulness of the new device is simple: first of all, the battery can be used in areas with scarce resources or very poor, where the water, unfortunately, is not the bearer of life, being more often putrid and not drinking; in the second place, the paper itself is biodegradable, which means that it does not pollute and does not worsen, therefore, the already precarious situation of these countries in the developing world.
Battery characteristics origami
The battery in question consists of several square of dimensions similar to those of a box of matches, while the cathode was obtained with nickel sprayed on the paper sheet; as regards the anode, however, it has been printed with the paint of carbon. Everything is priced absolutely amazing, we are talking about 5 cents, and the solution becomes even more interesting, if you think that four batteries of this type allow you to power a small LED light.
The aim of Professor Choi Seokheun who directs the work? To allow the feeding of biosensors, which are also made of paper, everything seems possible, given that the university has received a grant of 300 thousand dollars from the National Science Foundation, and it will keep you posted as soon as we know more.