If you think the walkman was Sony’s greatest innovation,think again.The Japanese multinational electronic giant has upped its game once again and this time it has brought us a great planet-saving idea.Sony battery has developed a new kind of battery that can be run using paper.Paper which we all thought was only gonna be used for wrapping food,since we do all our paperwork via texts and emails in the new millennium!
Engineers from the corporation debuted the technology last week at the Eco-Products 2011 exhibition in Tokyo where they showcased an improved Sony bio-battery that uses paper to make energy.In the demo,Sony’s engineers used some paper pulp and put it into a mixture of water.Much like how a termite eats wood,enzymes in the water mixture broke down the cellulose in the paper,and then the resulting glucose (sugar) was harvested,giving the cell the resources needed to make a working battery.The bio-reaction produced was the combo enough to power a small fan at the demo.
Created by researchers at Sony,this Sony paper-powered bio-battery produces electricity by using a special enzyme called cellulose to convert paper into glucose in a process that is much like the digestive system of the termite which eats wood.The researchers said that cellulose will only serve as a catalyst so that it can be used multiple times making the battery recyclable and sustainable.
Unlike traditional batteries,this bio-cell doesn’t use metals or other environmentally-unfriendly chemicals.Currently,this bio-battery is only powerful enough to run a small fan.Sony’s researchers claim that the waste paper-run battery can generate electricity up to 18wh that would be enough to juice most digital music players currently in the market.
