A Biodegradable Secondary Battery and its Biodegradation Mechanism for Eco‐Friendly Energy‐Storage Systems

Abstract

The production of rechargeable batteries is rapidly expanding, and there are going to be new challenges in the near future about how the potential environmental impact caused by the disposal of the large volume of the used batteries can be minimized. Herein, a novel strategy is proposed to address these concerns by applying biodegradable device technology. An eco‐friendly and biodegradable sodium‐ion secondary battery (SIB) is developed through extensive material screening followed by the synthesis of biodegradable electrodes and their seamless assembly with an unconventional biodegradable separator, electrolyte, and package. Each battery component decomposes in nature into non‐toxic compounds or elements via hydrolysis and/or fungal degradation, with all of the biodegradation products naturally abundant and eco‐friendly. Detailed biodegradation mechanisms and toxicity influence of each component on living organisms are determined. In addition, this new SIB delivers performance comparable to that of conventional non‐degradable SIBs. The strategy and findings suggest a novel eco‐friendly biodegradable paradigm for large‐scale rechargeable battery systems.

Ultrasound-mediated triboelectric nanogenerator for powering on-demand transient electronics

“…S8) ( 23 ). On the basis of the knowledge that PHBV/PEG membranes have strong XRD characteristic peaks at 19.6° and 23.5°, we hypothesized that a higher content of PEG would show more amorphous characteristics when considered through the amplitudes of diffraction peaks ( 24 , 25 ). In a quantitative manner, we calculated their crystallinity ( X C ) using the following equation ( 26 )XC=truetrue∑i=1nAnormalCiAtwhere A C i is an area under each crystalline peak and A t is a total area for both amorphous and crystalline regions.…”

Transient, Biodegradable Energy Systems as a Promising Power Solution for Ecofriendly and Implantable Electronics

“…Figure a shows materials and device configurations to fabricate a sodium‐ion secondary battery consisting of sodium‐ and iron‐based polyanion compounds and pyroprotein‐based carbon with cellulose‐derived binders as composite electrodes, a porous cellulose acetate mesh as a separator, sodium perchlorate in a propylene carbonate solution as an electrolyte, and carboxymethyl cellulose/polyester/silicon‐based materials as a biodegradable encapsulation pouch. [ 47 ] The assembled battery exhibited comparable electrochemical performances as those of conventional non‐degradable ones, with a charge–discharge capacity of 110 mAh g −1 and cycle retention of 93%. The natural biodegradation of battery begins when the pouch was contacted with water/moisture/fungi in the soil and it dissociated into silicic acid, glucose, terephthalate, adipate, and 1,4‐butanediol via natural microbial degradation and hydrolysis reactions.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 47 ] Copyright 2021, Wiley‐VCH. b) Fabrication and implantation process of biodegradable, injectable, and rechargeable fiber battery (left), a set of dissolution images of an assembled fiber battery during dissolution in phosphate‐buffered saline (1×) at 37 °C, with a magnified view of the device in the inset (right).…”

A plant-like battery: a biodegradable power source ecodesigned for precision agriculture

“…Since then, several other examples of batteries focusing on biodegradation as the alternative end-of-life have been reported. 34–36 A limitation of the PowerPAD, however, was that electricity was produced mainly through a diffusion process which limited the overall battery efficiency. More recently, the same group reported an enhanced design where the battery performance was increased by exploiting quasi-steady capillary flows.…”