Crab-Shell Derived Battery May Be Alternative To Lithium-ion Batteries

COLLEGE PARK, Md – In a paper published earlier this month in the journal Matter, one group of engineers at the University of Maryland crafted an impressive chitin-zinc battery made from crab shells that’s biodegradable, but still holds considerable electrical juice.As the world moves toward a more sustainable future, the hope is that a rechargeable, crab-derived battery may be a viable alternative to, or even a replacement for, lithium-ion batteries, which are increasing in demand. At the same time, lithium itself is becoming a scarce resource.Chemical reactions called redox reactions produce a steady drumbeat of electrical current in the form of moving electrons. These travel through a circuit consisting of the battery’s electrodes (made of two different conductive metals), its chemical electrolyte (a gel or liquid-like material containing charged particles called ions),…

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