Sugar Sweetens Battery Performance

Credit: Sugar photo via Shutterstock View full size image

Y-H Percival Zhang, chief science officer of Cell-Free BioInnovations and an associate professor of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech, contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. 

It might seem strange to use an ingredient found in cupcakes and cookies as an energy source, but most living cells break down sugar to produce energy. And, interestingly, the energy density of sugar is significantly higher than that of current lithium-ion batteries.

Recently, my colleagues and I successfully demonstrated the concept of a sugar biobattery that can completely convert the chemical energy in sugar substrates into electricity.

SOURCE: LIVESCIENCE