Written by Christopher Davies
In Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics published in November 2011, Sony achieved a respectable sixth position thanks to high product energy efficiency, the avoidance of hazardous substances and a commendable chemical management policy. All these factors are clear to see in one of the company's latest innovations, recently showcased at the Eco-Products exhibition in Tokyo.
Sony's eco-friendly bio-battery takes waste paper and turns it into fuel in a process which can be likened to how a white ant or termite digests wood. Paper or cardboard is dropped into a liquid solution made up of water and enzymes which causes the material to decompose into glucose sugar. When combined with oxygen and additional enzymes, the reaction turns the material into electrons and hydrogen ions.
These electrons are then utilised by the battery to generate electricity and therefore power devices. The only by-products are water and gluconolactone, an acid used in cosmetics.
"Of course, this is still at the very early stages of its development, but when you imagine the possibilities that this technology could deliver, it becomes very exciting indeed," said Yuichi Tokita, Senior Researcher at Sony's Advanced Material Research Lab.
The bio-battery could potentially allow environmentally-friendly consumers to charge their smartphones or tablets using waste material. In addition, no harmful chemicals or metals are used in the process unlike traditional batteries. While the power produced still falls short of standardised electrochemical cells, the development is a sustainable step in the right direction.
"The issue that we always have with battery technology is the toxic chemicals that go into making them and recycling batteries is also complicated," John Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK told BBC News.
"Any way to provide a greener technology could be a potential magic bullet. So from that point of view this is interesting, and I think it's fantastic that companies like Sony are looking to make the generation of energy more environmentally friendly."
Previously, Sony also developed an alternative power solution when it managed to charge a Walkman music player using fruit juice. This latest project is also similar to a 2009 Stanford University study where scientists dipped an ordinary piece of paper into ink infused with carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires to produce a super capacitor.
"The most important part of this paper is how a simple thing in daily life – paper – can be used as a substrate to make functional conductive electrodes by a simple process," said Peidong Yang, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley. "It's nanotechnology related to daily life, essentially."
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