{"id":168960,"date":"2025-10-15T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T05:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=168960"},"modified":"2025-10-09T15:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T13:03:17","slug":"battery-made-from-natural-materials-could-replace-conventional-lithium-ion-batteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/battery-made-from-natural-materials-could-replace-conventional-lithium-ion-batteries\/","title":{"rendered":"Battery made from natural materials could replace conventional lithium-ion batteries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries, which rely on metals and petrochemicals, this new material is derived entirely from renewable biological sources. \u00a9 Getty Images (conceptual graphic)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A team of researchers at Texas A&M University, including Distinguished Professor of Chemistry\u00a0Dr. Karen Wooley<\/a> and Professor of Chemical Engineering\u00a0Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus<\/a>, has developed a biodegradable battery using natural polymers. Its findings were published in the\u00a0Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wooley\u2019s research group in the College of Arts and Sciences<\/a> has spent the past 15 years shifting toward natural products for the construction of sustainable and degradable plastics materials. Lutkenhaus, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering<\/a>, has been using organic materials to design a better battery. She suggested collaboration to combine Wooley\u2019s naturally sourced polymers with her battery expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve long been interested in safer, more flexible battery materials,\u201d said Lutkenhaus<\/strong>. \u201cWhen Dr. Wooley\u2019s lab began developing these naturally sourced polymers, it opened the door to something entirely new \u2014 a battery that could perform well and also disappear safely when it\u2019s no longer needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A battery made from vitamin B2 and amino acids<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The new material is made from two key ingredients found in nature: riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, and L-glutamic acid, an amino acid that helps build proteins in the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThose components were identified by a talented recent Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Shih-Guo Li<\/strong>, who began his dissertation research five years ago with the intention of enhancing the content of bio-renewable building blocks for organic polymer battery construction,\u201d Wooley said. \u201cHe then developed synthetic methods to connect the molecular building blocks into chain-like structures called polypeptides.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What makes this material special is that it\u2019s redox-active, which means it can gain and lose electrons. This is how batteries store and release energy. In this case, the riboflavin handles the energy, while the polypeptide provides structure and helps the material break down naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries, which rely on metals and petrochemicals, this new material is derived entirely from renewable biological sources. It\u2019s designed to degrade safely when exposed to water or enzymes, making it a promising solution for reducing battery waste, especially in cases where batteries aren\u2019t properly recycled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAlthough there are significant efforts to recycle batteries, in cases where batteries are not actively collected and processed for recycling, they should be capable of undergoing breakdown naturally and with release of non-toxic degradation products,\u201d Wooley<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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Design that starts with the end in mind is key to building a more sustainable future. Instead of creating materials that last forever and become waste, researchers are designing them to be part of a\u00a0circular economy, where materials are reused, recycled or safely returned to nature. \u00a9 Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Safer for the environment and living cells<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In lab tests, the material showed its suitability as an anode, the part of a battery that stores electrons. Importantly, the material was also shown to be non-toxic to fibroblast cells, a type of cell found in connective tissue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAt this point, we\u2019ve merely confirmed that our materials are cytocompatible, meaning they are non-harmful to cells,\u201d said Wooley<\/strong>. \u201cThis may matter if the materials were to be used in implantable or wearable devices.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lutkenhaus said the performance results were especially promising given the material\u2019s natural origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe were excited to see that the electrochemical behavior was on par with synthetic non-sustainable polymeric materials,\u201d she<\/strong> said. \u201cIt shows that you don\u2019t have to sacrifice performance to gain sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Toward a circular future for battery design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The researchers say this kind of design \u2014 starting with the end in mind \u2014 is key to building a more sustainable future. Instead of creating materials that last forever and become waste, they\u2019re designing them to be part of a circular economy, where materials are reused, recycled or safely returned to nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI like to consider every synthetic material that my laboratory produces as being a point along its journey toward function and purpose,\u201d Wooley<\/strong> said, \u201cwith an ability to perform physical and chemical transformations that allow reuse of the molecular components in several other directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost extreme in this case, the batteries could become edible to provide a different kind of \u2018energy\u2019 supply.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For now, the team is focused on improving the material\u2019s performance and finding ways to make it more affordable. Currently, the chemical process used to make the material is too expensive for commercial use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0\u201cWe need to improve performance and then develop processes that would be profitable,\u201d Wooley<\/strong> said. \u201cThat could require 5-10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The excitement of interdisciplinary collaboration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most exciting parts of the project, the researchers say, was the collaboration across Texas A&M colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAs a chemist, my most exciting moment was when Professor Lutkenhaus\u2019 laboratory demonstrated that our materials could be fabricated into working battery systems,\u201d Wooley<\/strong> said. \u201cIt was a confirmation that the strategy has promise to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lutkenhaus added, \u201cSeeing the materials come together in a functioning battery was a major milestone. It validated the concept and gave us a clear direction for future development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Welch Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of researchers at Texas A&M University, including Distinguished Professor of Chemistry\u00a0Dr. Karen Wooley and Professor of Chemical Engineering\u00a0Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus, has developed a biodegradable battery using natural polymers. Its findings were published in the\u00a0Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Wooley\u2019s research group in the College of Arts and Sciences has spent the past 15 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":168978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"What if the next battery you buy was made from the same kinds of ingredients found in your body? That\u2019s the idea behind a breakthrough battery material made from natural, biodegradable components. It\u2019s so natural, it could even be consumed as food","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[14796,11270,5838,8793,16733],"supplier":[1144,394,7476,27017],"class_list":["post-168960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-batteries","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioeconomy","tag-biomaterials","tag-energystorage","supplier-national-science-foundation-usa","supplier-texas-am-university","supplier-welch-foundation","supplier-wooley-research-group-texas-am"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168960"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=168960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}