The sugar battery is a developing battery technology which generates power from the oxidation of glucose, obtained from grain-derived maltodextrin (malt sugar). As the technology is perfected, such devices may become a major source of mobile power in the future.
The concept of the sugar battery was first put forward by Sony in 2007. It was later developed at Virginia Tech (2014) and is a current topic of research at numerous institutions globally, notably in China.
The chief benefits of the sugar battery are its cleanness and chemical safety in relation to the “dirtier” lithium-ion device, the ready availability and low cost of sugar as a renewable primary fuel, and the model’s high efficiency of conversion from chemical to electrical energy.
A major bottleneck in the mechanics of the sugar battery is its low rate of discharge or output; though the chemical process is very efficient, the output is several times lower than that of a lithium-ion battery. Thus, at present, a much larger capacity is needed to provide the same level of power as a comparable lithium-ion system.
However, the model’s high energy density may be able to balance this problem, as it means smaller battery size and potentially longer battery life than found in most existing solutions.
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