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Comments: 54 +- Hardware: Algae Could Be the Key To Ultra-Thin Batteries on Friday November 27, @10:10PM
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Friday November 27, @10:10PM
from the green-power-that's-actually-green dept.
from the green-power-that's-actually-green dept.
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biotech
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hardware
MikeChino writes "Algae is often touted as the next big thing in biofuels, but the slimy stuff could also be the key to paper-thin biodegradable batteries, according to researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden. Uppsala researcher Maria Stromme and her team has found that the smelly algae species that clumps on beaches, known as Cladophora, can also be used to make a type of cellulose that has 100 times the surface area of cellulose found in paper. That means it can hold enough conducting polymers to effectively recharge and hold electricity for long amounts of time. Eventually, the bio batteries could compete with commercial lithium-ion batteries."
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green tech (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm tired of reading incredible claims that are just not justified by the science.
When it's done by easy to hate industries like big pharma or big oil, we all jump on it, we should show the sobriety required to do the same when it's from friendlier industries. If anything, these claims hurt the industry by setting up unreal expectations and eventually earning it a reputation of big promises that never deliver.
Re:green tech (Score:4, Insightful)
He's modded troll because he is projecting some sort of faith in these press releases on to the rest of us. Reading green tech/energy content is kinda like reading optimistic sci-fi - you know - gee, wouldn't it be nice.
Even if the tech is viable, the IP situation in the Western World dictates a long road from conceptualization to delivery. Simply having a story posted doesn't mean anyone is buying into it... Just means we won't be as surprised as everyone else if it turns out to work.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Even if the tech is viable, the IP situation in the Western World dictates a long road from conceptualization to delivery. Simply having a story posted doesn't mean anyone is buying into it... Just means we won't be as surprised as everyone else if it turns out to work.
So... Just like every other technology-related article on Slashdot?
Re: (Score:2)
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The key to this new battery turned out to be an often bothersome green algae known as Cladophora.
The rest of TFA is speculative and, to my mind anyway, worth the 30 seconds it took to read. Without this one definitive sentence claiming this as more than a new thread to follow, it's just a piece about a potential new avenue into cellulose batteries.
While I definitely agree that bold claims do hurt their industries with unreal expectations, I know I usually am more forgiving than I would be to large industries like
Re: (Score:2)
MRAM, "Spintronics" and Quantum Computers, Inkjet-printable circuit boards, anything involving carbon nanotubes...
"Green tech" is hardly the only industry guilty of making wild claims.
But hey, why not take the opportunity to take a pot shot as those pesky environmentalists, eh? If anything, it's always worth a few modpoints here on Slashdot...
Re: (Score:2)
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Yeah, bullshit, buddy. Nanotubes are touted as next generation batteries, circuit boards, solar cells, bullet proof armor, space elevator cables, and god knows what else. They're practically a magical panacea if you believe researchers.
As for printable circuit boards, yup, you got me there. They're manufactured in the lab... kinda like algae-based power sources.
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It's almost as if scientists are pressured by universities to make long-term claims in understandable language, rather than precise short-term claims in technical language. Kind of like it is part of their mission to promote public understanding of science, and one of the criteria they are considered on when funding is allocated.
But if you have an axe to grind against "green tech" then go ahead and pretend it is unique to science with environmental impact.
Re:green tech (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Key word... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Linguistically, it means "after the current conditions have changed beyond all recognition, and most probably after I am dead and cant be blamed for getting it wrong". It does not mean "technically feasible in the near future" in any context what ever. It is a term used to imply that this is not news, and can safely be ignored here.
BSG (Score:4, Funny)
Sweet! So that means when we find the Algae Planet, it'll solve our food AND fuel problems! Why steal Tylium from the Cylons when you've got algae?
no we need that planet to dial the Destiny (Score:3, Funny)
no we need that planet to dial the Destiny
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I was thinking next we'll be hearing about biogenic weapons made from algae. When will it end?!?
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Cladophora grows in my garden pond and it pretty amazing actually (once you get past the annoying as hell part [wikipedia.org]), once it sticks to something and dries that's it it almost impossible to get off and strong as hell. Thinking along your lines, I'd go with Solid Rocket motors. I've always thought it might make a really interesting paper.
Re:BSG (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Now that's an idea my behind can get behind.
Does anyone remember this? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Did you flunk Conspiracy 101? It was suppressed by Big Oil (TM) - just like this current one will be.
Re:Does anyone remember this? (Score:5, Informative)
Geobacter [wikipedia.org] Is capable of doing precisely what you describe. The bacterium extends electrode like pili into its environment and degrading various materials ranging from hydrocarbons to Uranium salts. However, Geobacter creates an electrical current in a very different way than these algae batteries would. The algae battery looks like it uses the cellulose as a supportive structure in rather than using biological processes to generate an electrical potential.
Parent
Next step, the Matrix (Score:2)
This sounds like the first step in human batteries, ala The Matrix.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't even bother trying to find a connection between reality and The Matrix. The machines already had fusion power.
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And of course the machines would just have had to send solar power stations into space to get as much solar energy as they want, even with a darkened sky. Not that whatever they used to darken the sky would have remained in the atmosphere for very long time. And even if there's no way to harness solar power any more, there's still geothermal energy.
Of course only very stupid humans would block all sunlight from Earth. Because unlike machines, our energy ultimately comes to 100% from the sun. Not to forget t
Re: (Score:2)
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The humans were originally meant to be the compute nodes upon which the matrix ran, but that plotline was deemed to be too complicated and metaphysical for mainstream audiences, plus it didn't provide an opportunity to milk some product placement dollars out of Duracell.
Could be (Score:4, Insightful)
Not really a battery (Score:3, Informative)
The device they came up with is more like a supercapacitor, but it still pretty good.
I believe that the real breakthrough in electrochemical energy storage technology will not be in greater energy density from new materials, but in cheaper alternatives from organic systems.
When their performance degrades too much we can safely toss them, make compost and start over.
A couple of examples:
http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/Y0NOS1cDbWD509Q0m5Reyw/Symposium2009Poster_Joaquin_Geng.pdf [stanford.edu]
http://www.nec.co.jp/techrep/en/r_and_d/a05/a05-no3/a262.pdf [nec.co.jp]
Disclaimer: I work in battery research so I firmly believe that batteries, and not fuel cells, will save us. So don't even go there.
Yeah, so the paper is biodegradable. (Score:3, Interesting)
But what about the polymers that they are coated in??
Re: (Score:1)
There are biodedgradable plastics, you know. Polymers != Non-biodegradable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable_plastic [wikipedia.org]
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Cellulose is a polymer, Protein is a polymer, discussing something and using chemical nomenclature to decribe the chemicals doesn't automatically make then Evil(TM); at least they aren't using dihydrogen monoxide!
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Not using dihydrogen monoxide! Why I bet they use so much of it they have it piped in! :)
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OMG your right, think of the children, oh the humanity!
just wait.... (Score:1)
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"..could eventually.." (Score:2)
If I was smart I'd've filed for a patent on the idea of claiming a new technology was "just 10 years away", then neither I nor the next 7 generations of my descendants would ever have to work!