Some materials for energy storage (such as supercapacitors) can be expensive and pollute the environment. Producing alternative energy storage from things that people normally throw away can help with this. A study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces reports on the transformation of chicken fat into carbon electrodes for supercapacitors that store energy and power LEDs.
Supercapacitors have been developed using carbon materials such as graphene due to their efficient charge transport and naturally occurring properties, but their manufacture is expensive and causes pollution. Researchers from the American Chemical Society have developed a simple, cost-effective method for converting waste in the form of chicken fat into conductive nanostructures for energy storage in supercapacitors.
The scientists melted the chicken fat with a gas gun and burned the molten substance. They then collected the soot at the bottom of a flask that was suspended over the flame. Electron microscopy showed that the soot contained nanostructures that were homogeneous spherical lattices of concentric graphite rings. The researchers tested a way to improve the electrical characteristics of carbon nanoparticles by soaking them in a solution of thiourea. This substance has the smell of fried onions, and a schematic representation of its molecule looks like a funny fat man.
Assembled into the negative electrode of an asymmetric supercapacitor, the carbon nanoparticles from chicken fat demonstrated good capacity and durability, high energy density and power. As predicted, these properties were further improved when the electrodes were made from carbon nanoparticles treated with thiourea.
The researchers then demonstrated that the new supercapacitor could perform in real time: they charged and combined two of them to light up red, green, and blue LEDs. The results highlight the potential benefits of using food waste, such as chicken fat, as a carbon source in the quest for even greener energy.
Source: TechXplore