Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, announced this week that they have created a more sustainable, less expensive and potentially tastier way to power the Lithium-ion batteries that power cell phones, electric cars and other devices.

Just add portobello mushrooms.

Currently, most rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries contain synthetic graphite, which is expensive and environmentally damaging. In order to prepare graphite for use in electronics, it must be treated with harsh chemicals (like hydrofluoric acid) that create tons of hazardous waste. So, the industry was already on the lookout for a replacement, and the ideal candidate would be something plant-based and plentiful.

The UC, Riverside engineers who created the device thought portobellos would be a good fit because they are low-density and have just the right amount of potassium salt, both key ingredients for a good battery with a long life (also, a so-so sandwich). In fact, they theorized that this battery would get stronger and stronger and have a longer capacity the more it was used.

"With battery materials like this, future cell phones may see an increase in run time after many uses, rather than a decrease," said Brennan Campbell, a UC, Riverside graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering program.

That's partly because the inside of a portobello mushroom skin is made up of tiny ribbon-like structures that, when heated, open up into a network of channels to store energy, which is exactly what you look for in battery electrodes — I know I do.

This isn't the first time that the married duo who headed the research, Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan, have gotten creative with batteries. Last year, they developed another anode out of beach sand. 

The findings were published in a paper succinctly titled "Bio-Derived, Binderless, Hierarchically Porous Carbon Anodes for Li-ion Batteries," in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Source: Scientific Reports

Photo: Rusty Clark | Flickr