Researchers craft a fully edible battery

My first question was &quot;but why?&quot; and apparently it has more applications than one would think at first, as it says in the article: edible batteries in toys for kids would eliminate toxicity risk and supporting electronics that go inside our body (they are working in edible transistors).<p>I also wanted to highlight this hilarious phrase in the article:<p>&gt; While all of these components are nontoxic and edible, the researchers clarify that a user is not supposed to eat the battery on purpose, which would obviate the whole point of making it rechargeable.<p>&quot;Please don&#x27;t buy our batteries for eating, eat a banana or something&quot;

Very quick math says this is much weaker than a potato battery, which is a fun comparison. [1] puts the capacity of a potato around 0.1 Wh, quite impressive. Using the numbers from TFA I get a capacity of 5.2 µWh [2]. For reference an AA battery is 4.275 Wh.<p>A spent potato battery is apparently not edible, but 5.2 µWh does not provide much power. Also a potato battery is not rechargeable, while this one is, if you do not eat it of course.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sciencing.com&#x2F;make-potato-battery-6537882.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sciencing.com&#x2F;make-potato-battery-6537882.html</a> - 0.5V * 10mA * 20 h<p>[2] 0.65V * 48 µA * 1&#x2F;6 h (you get a 10 min runtime at the wattage)<p>P.S. I know this should be calculated in joules, but battery capacity is always listed in (k)Wh or mAh, so I kept to these units<p>edit: correct potato capacity calculation, was off by a factor of 10

Potato batteries are back? Quercetin would be onion&#x2F;apple flavor, riboflavin will be liver&#x2F;egg flavor. Activated charcoal will prevent anything from being absorbed in the gut.

&quot;Researchers find major storage capacity in metal-free aqueous batteries&quot; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inceptivemind.com&#x2F;researchers-finds-major-storage-capacity-metal-free-aqueous-batteries&#x2F;30164&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inceptivemind.com&#x2F;researchers-finds-major-storag...</a> :<p>&quot;The role of the electrolyte in non-conjugated radical polymers for metal-free aqueous energy storage electrodes.&quot; (2023) DOI: 10.1038&#x2F;s41563-023-01518-z<p>&quot;A sustainable battery with a biodegradable electrolyte made from crab shells&quot; (2022) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencedaily.com&#x2F;releases&#x2F;2022&#x2F;09&#x2F;220901135827.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencedaily.com&#x2F;releases&#x2F;2022&#x2F;09&#x2F;220901135827.h...</a> :<p>&quot;A sustainable chitosan-zinc electrolyte for high-rate zinc-metal batteries&quot; (2022) <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dx.doi.org&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;j.matt.2022.07.015" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dx.doi.org&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;j.matt.2022.07.015</a><p>Chitosan <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Chitosan" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Chitosan</a> :<p>&gt; <i>Chitosan &#x2F;ˈkaɪtəsæn&#x2F; is a linear polysaccharide composed of randomly distributed β-(1→4)-linked D-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit). It is made by treating the chitin shells of shrimp and other crustaceans with an alkaline substance, such as sodium hydroxide.</i><p>Is there a sustainable way to produce Chitosan, which is an electrolyte?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;westurner.github.io&#x2F;hnlog&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;westurner.github.io&#x2F;hnlog&#x2F;</a> Ctrl-F &quot;anode&quot; :<p>&gt; <i>Here&#x27;s a discussion about the lower costs of hemp supercapacitors as compared with graphene super capacitors:</i> <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=16814022" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=16814022</a>

Now make edible LED&#x27;s and other components and we can have some pretty fancy blinking light food!

Link to PDF of the paper:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;pdfdirect&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;adma.202211400" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;pdfdirect&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;adma.2...</a><p>Page 7 has a photo of the battery, powering an LED.

Now we need to make marshmallow vehicles, breathable water pool, warm fire that won&#x27;t burn, antigravity flooring in case children might fall down.

It would probably be a billion times less powerful than a silicon chip (and only last a few days), but I wonder if one could make a potato into a cpu.

Maybe useful for mouth gadgets like this thing<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.augmental.tech&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.augmental.tech&#x2F;</a>

Its called a fruit?

Now I can finally have a battery-powered horse cart

But is it delicious? Until we get dessert batteries, meh.

I’ll let y’all try it and let me know how it is!

wasn&#x27;t there a drinkable (alcohol~) battery some time ago?