Brown Seaweed Key to Sustainable Batteries

Courtesy of NAA:
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A University of Bristol research team has fabricated a cellulose nanocrystal rechargeable battery component, based upon brown seaweed, to move battery manufacture away from hard-to-get lithium to widely available sodium.
 
The research, published in Advanced Materials, describes how a seaweed-based nanomaterial prevents chronic short-circuiting in sodium anode-based batteries. The brown seaweed derived fibers stop sodium electrode crystals from forming and the new battery demonstrated higher energy density and charge cycling capacity over current batteries.  Amazingly, they fabricated the component from alginate waste sent to landfills. 
 
To read the open-access paper, please click here.