Edible batteries made from food
(IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia)
Looking for a new dish to spice up your meal today? How about freshly baked toast, drizzled with creamy garlic butter? Perhaps with wine on the side? Finally, if you’re craving something truly exotic, why not top it all off with a nice serving of Tasty Batteries?
Yes, science has really come this far. A group of scientists have created a new type of rechargeable battery made from a fully edible substance that can be safely dissolved in the stomach once its purpose has been served.
Not something I would recommend adding to gourmet meals or dinners, but some parts are actually made from common foods. It is made of blackish seaweed that can be seen.
The negative and positive terminals of the battery are made of a supplement called the vitamins riboflavin and quercetin, respectively. The charge-generating electrolyte is made from a water-based solution, and activated charcoal helps increase conductivity – all completely edible.
Currently, the prototype can generate a small current of 48 microamps for 12 minutes while operating at a harmless 0.65 volts. These configurations help power small, hard-to-reach electronic devices, allowing us to monitor and treat our bodies from within.
“Potential future applications range from edible circuits and sensors that can monitor health conditions to powering sensors to monitor food storage conditions,” says senior author Mario Caironi.
Currently, fingernail-sized batteries can maintain a charge after dozens of uses, but can only be recharged externally. The team believes it can be made even more compact. This means less discomfort for the patient when the scanner is examining them.
In addition, researchers believe the battery could also help monitor food quality. The battery he pack may be ingested with food and will know if a batch of food should be discarded based on the information provided by the battery until it is safely dissolved in the intestine .
“While our edible battery will not power electric vehicles, it is evidence that we can make batteries with safer materials than current lithium-ion batteries,” said Ivan Ilic, one of the study’s co-authors. says.
The results of this research are: advanced materials can access here.
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