The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of July 11th

#3 Biodegradable battery breakthrough could one day reduce electronic waste

In New York, researchers at Binghamton University have created a paper-based battery with more power capacity than previous iterations.
The battery uses a hybrid of paper and biodegradable, engineered polymers poly(amic) acid and poly(pyromellitic dianhydride-p-phenylenediamine). The resulting structures are lightweight, low-cost, and flexible.

“There’s been a dramatic increase in electronic waste and this may be an excellent way to start reducing that,” Associate Professor SeokheunChoi from the University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department says. “Our hybrid paper battery exhibited a much higher power-to-cost ratio than all previously reported paper-based microbial batteries.” Professor Omowunmi Sadik from BU’s Chemistry Department also worked on the project, which is published in a recent issue of Advanced Sustainable Systems.