New “Bio-battery” to Challenge Lithium-ion Batteries

Indo-Asian News Service reported that researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have designed a sugar-consuming “bio-battery” whose output per weight is greater than that of typical lithium-ion batteries.

As quoted in the market news:

The new bio-battery fully converts sugar into energy, which means more power output than previous bio-batteries and a greater battery charge than common lithium-ion batteries.

The new bio-battery gets its efficiency by using a novel system of enzymes which are proteins that help the reaction to take place.

The system uses two active enzymes that liberate two pairs of electrons from the sugar while 10 other enzymes help to reset the reaction inside the bio-battery.

Once the reaction is reset, the active enzymes release another quartet of electrons.

After six cycles, the bio-battery extracts all of the energy bound in the sugar molecule along with carbon dioxide and water.

Click here to read the full Indo-Asian News Service press release.