Now comes word that researchers at Researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have found yet another use for mushrooms — in batteries. Mushroom lithium ion batteries aren't going to replace traditional batteries anytime soon, as the researchers say the technology needs more optimization before such biological anodes can replace the standard synthetic graphite ones. The current industry standard for rechargeable lithium-ion battery anodes is synthetic graphite, which comes with a high cost of manufacturing because it requires tedious purification and preparation processes that are also harmful to the environment. That porosity is important for batteries because it creates more space for the storage and transfer of energy, a critical component to improving battery performance. Perhaps more importantly, portobello mushrooms are high in potassium salt, which makes the pores more accessible to the electrolytes in the battery with each charge and discharge cycle, which could actually increase the battery's capacity over time. "With battery materials like this, future cell phones may see an increase in run time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within the carbon architectures as the cell charges and discharges over time," said Brennan Campbell, a graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering program at UC Riverside. In a paper published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports on Tuesday, researchers from the university's Bourns College of Engineering describe how they created a new type of high-carbon lithium ion battery component using heat-treated nanoribbons from the skins of portobello mushrooms.
– It isn't happening just yet, but a new scientific paper shows that it's possible, and perhaps even advantageous, to make batteries out of organic biological materials that have the added benefit of being cheap, environmentally friendly, and easy to produce, reports CNET. Engineers at the University of California, Riverside, report in the journal Scientific Reports that they've developed a new kind of lithium-ion battery anode that uses portobello mushrooms, which turn out to be so efficient (thanks largely to their porousness) that they could even replace the industry standard of synthetic graphite. The development could affect multiple industries, reports Discovery, which notes that biological materials might enable us to bring down costs and expend less energy in manufacturing, while synthetic graphite demands specific preparation and purification processes that are not only more costly but less environmentally friendly. The mushroom carbon anode tech could ultimately replace graphite anodes, the team reports in a press release: "With battery materials like this, future cell phones may see an increase in run time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within the carbon architectures as the cell charges and discharges over time," says one researcher. (Check out why some mushrooms glow in the dark.)