'Juiced-up' Sugar-Fueled Battery Could Power Portable Electronics

Saint Louis University researches develop a sugar fuel cell battery that lasts longer than lithium powered batteries and are environmentally safe.

Juicing up your cell phone or iPod may take on a whole new meaning in the future. Researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri have developed a fuel cell battery that runs on virtually any sugar source — from soft drinks to tree sap — and has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium ion batteries, they say. If this is commercially available then the consumers can talk longer in mobile phones and play music for a longer period between charges. The new battery is also biodegradable could eventually replace lithium ion batteries. This finding was reported in 233rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Shelley Minteer, Ph.D., an electrochemist at Saint Louis University is the lead researcher for this study said that renewable fuels can be used directly at room temperature that are more energy efficient than metal based battery technologies. “It demonstrates that by bridging biology and chemistry, we can build a better battery that’s also cleaner for the environment.” Sugar fuel is not a recent discovery; all living things use Sugar in the form of glucose which supplies energy. Nature has found a suitable way to harness this energy efficiently and is doing it for a long time, only now the scientists are trying to learn this sugar fuel technology. Minteer said other researchers have developed this technology that run on sugar, but her version is an efficient one lasts longer and is the most powerful one available currently. The calculator shown in the picture is powered by the sugar fuel. She wants to do more testing and adjustments and that it could be ready for commercialization in three to five years. Besides its commercial use, this technology can be used for military where access to electricity will be limited. The military is interested in using the sugar battery to charge the portable electronic equipments in the battlefield. Minteer said devices can be recharged easily by adding virtually any convenient sugar source such as plant sap. The sugar battery contains enzymes that convert sugar into electricity, leaving water as the by product. Thus they are natural and biodegradable, unlike other fuel cell types such as lithium batteries. Minteer has tested a number of sugar sources to run the batteries with sodas, drink mixes, tree saps and all have provide promising results. The best source she says is the ordinary table sugar dissolved in water. The first application Minteer wants to apply is for mobile phones. They will develop a sugar batteries recharger which will have pre-filled sugar solution to power these batteries. More research is being done by Minteer and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and the sugar batteries will be tested under a variety of conditions.