Sony gets a taste for sugar batteries

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 24 Aug 2007 at 10:33

Sony has developed an environmentally-friendly prototype battery that runs on sugars and can generate enough electricity to power a music player and a pair of speakers.

Sony has developed an environmentally-friendly prototype battery that runs on sugars and can generate enough electricity to power a music player and a pair of speakers.

The bio battery's casing is made of a vegetable-based plastic. It measures 3.9cm (1.5in) along each edge and works by pouring sugar solution into the unit, where enzymes break it down to generate electricity.

Test cells had an output of 50 milliwatts, currently the world's highest level for passive-type bio batteries Sony claims.

"Sugar is a naturally occurring energy source produced by plants through photosynthesis," Sony said in a statement. "It is therefore regenerative, and can be found in most areas of the earth, underlining the potential for sugar-based batteries as an ecologically-friendly energy device of the future."

To break down sugar to generate electricity Sony faces the problem of immobilizing the enzymes and conduction materials in the cell while maintaining the activity of the enzymes at the anode. Its solution is a new cathode structure to supply oxygen to the electrode while ensuring that the appropriate water content is maintained.

As development moves forward the company says it will work to improve each of these technologies to boost power output and durability, with the aim of a commercial realise sometime in the future, though no timeframe was specified.

Sony was hit last year by the recall of millions of laptop batteries over fears they could catch fire.

Click here to see a video of the battery in action.