Would you believe that the probiotics found in yogurt could help make batteries safer? A team of scientists at Binghamton University proved that it’s possible, Interesting Engineering reported.
The researchers managed to build a battery using a paper material that dissolves in water and
probiotic bacteria. That’s right: The same organisms that boost your gut health after drinking a smoothie were engineered to produce electricity using a special electrode.
The result was a power source that can basically self-destruct after a set amount of time without harming its surroundings, Interesting Engineering explained.
A big problem with batteries is that many contain toxic chemicals. After they are used, this pollution often enters soil and water through landfills and can end up posing dangers to human health.
Yet with the researchers’ solution, clean power can flow where it needs to flow, and afterward, no one gets hurt. Their model can currently run between four and 100 minutes before it cleanly and safely destroys itself. All that remains are helpful microbes, Interesting Engineering reported.
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This kind of battery is part of a field called transient electronics, which is all about fuel cells that are not made to last. Instead, they are designed to disintegrate, much like a device from a “Mission: Impossible” movie, Interesting Engineering noted.
That might sound impractical, but there are actually all kinds of useful homes for these batteries that save time and money. For example, they make medical implant procedures simpler and safer, improve sustainable environmental sensors, and make disposable electronics cleaner and secure, per Interesting Engineering.
“Whenever I made presentations at conferences, people would ask: So, you are using bacteria? Can we safely use that?” explained Maedeh Mohammadifar, who developed the original dissolvable battery during her time as a graduate student. She affirmed that the selected probiotics were common and safe to use, according to the outlet.
The full research findings are published in the journal Small.
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