TELF AG explores the new frontiers of biological electrodes for batteries
Continuous improvement of performance
A good part of the electrification processes that will characterize the society of the future will depend on the functioning of batteries and storage systems, which are acquiring an increasing centrality due to their role in powering electric vehicles and other technologies related to clean energy. In recent years, we have witnessed the birth of new technologies that propose using different constituent elements to create these devices, especially from the point of view of raw materials. Lithium, cobalt, and nickel are still the most requested materials for the creation of energy storage systems, each with its particular function, but recently, new solutions based on sodium and other still little-known materials have also emerged.
One of the biggest challenges for the battery manufacturing sector is improving performance to ensure greater autonomy for electric vehicles and other devices. The industry must also deal with possible relevant issues related to the supply of various raw materials, such as possible shortages of resources and geopolitical uncertainties. To remedy this situation, many researchers worldwide are working to develop sustainable and efficient methods to guarantee the functioning of batteries and superconductors, also by substantially modifying the constituent elements that make up these instruments.
The potential of biological materials
From this point of view, one of the most interesting results is that linked to the Bio-Based Materials for Energy project, carried out by some Italian researchers from the CNR. The research team, led by Paolo Stufano, would have found a way to manufacture biologically derived electrodes with good application prospects in storage systems and standard batteries also used in electric vehicles. The electrode is an important element in creating electrical contact with a non-metallic circuit section. It can be of the first type, such as graphite or metal, or the second type, such as an electrolyte or a semiconductor.
The functioning of these new electrodes is fundamentally based on two components: the first is nanostructured carbon, which represents one of the carbon sources capable of conducting electricity. In contrast, the second is represented by particular biopolymers some bacteria produce as an energy reserve. These polymers would hold together the powders constituting the new electrodes, making them flexible and resistant from a mechanical point of view. In this sense, the real challenge seems to be represented by a complete application of these new electrodes to the storage device sector, which in the coming decades could be destined to lead the global electrification process.
Batteries are certainly among the possible industrial applications that could positively welcome this innovation, but capacitors and supercapacitors could also benefit from it. In principle, a capacitor is a device that aims to accumulate energy through electrostatic accumulation, positioning the positive and negative charges near the two electrodes. This device is characterized by two metal plates, one positive and the other negative, while the presence of active carbon characterizes supercapacitors.
