Scientists build working battery that you can eat

Researchers from Milan’s Italian Institute of Technology (IIT)  have created a fully rechargeable battery consisting only of non-toxic, edible components.

Aside from reducing e-waste, a consumable battery has benefits for general consumer safety and healthcare.

Firstly, it can lower the number of incidents where children must receive medical treatment after swallowing batteries.

Secondly, it could make drug-delivery robots much safer for highly-targeted in-body treatment.

First author of the study, Ivan K. Ilic, told Ars Technica that current batteries could damage human tissue inside the body — either through their toxic materials or water electrolysis.

“Water electrolysis is a phenomenon where electricity with a voltage higher than 1.2V breaks water into oxygen and the [explosive gas] hydrogen, and it is very dangerous if it occurs in the stomach,” Illic said.

“Our battery is way below this voltage, around 0.65 V, so water electrolysis cannot occur. On the other hand, we used only food materials, so nothing is toxic.”

The battery’s components consist of the followings ingredients:

• Cathode — Quercetin, a pigment found in almonds and capers
• Anode — Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
• Separator — Nori seaweed that is used in the wrapping of sushi rolls) as the separator
• Electrolyte — Aqueous sodium hydrogen sulfate (NaHSO4)
• Conductor — Activated charcoal is employed to achieve high electrical conductivity in the battery.
• Cover and laminate — Beeswax and pastry gold foil that laminates
• Supporting structure — Ethyl cellulose

The battery can supply 48 microamperes of current for just over 10 minutes, which won’t make them suitable for most consumer applications.

However, it is sufficiently powerful for a miniature medical device or small LED light.

“These batteries are no competition to ordinary batteries—they will not power electric cars,” Illic said.

“They are meant to power edible electronics and maybe some other niche applications, so their main advantage is non-toxicity.”

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Scientists build working battery that you can eat