Until now, the natural aquatic autotrophic organisms, algae is known to be off immense importance in the the fields of pollution control, bio energy, bio fuels etc. and the scientists and researches across the globe are experimenting with idea of using the energy producing algae to design and develop state of the art lightweight and eco friendly batteries.

Now, the dream of operational batteries batteries made from algae has been turned into a reality with the development of super slim algae batteries. This innovation is based entirely around a category of the green algae known as, Cladophora. This particular type of freshwater vegetation secrets a unique cellulose whose chemical composition enabled the scientists to significantly boost the amount of conducting polymer, that made the batteries efficiently recharge themselves, hold the juice without the leaks and then appropriately discharge the stored electric power.

According to Maria Strømme (Nanotechnologist, Uppsala University, Sweden),

“We have long hoped to find some sort of constructive use for the material from algae blooms and have now been shown this to be possible. This creates new possibilities for large-scale production of environmentally friendly, cost-effective, lightweight energy storage systems.”

The developers of the all new prototype algae batteries estimate that, once this innovation is refined and given the required tweaks, it might well surpass the charging capabilities of the current generation lithium batteries and as of now, the algae batteries have been known to store about 50% to 200% more charge than the batteries that are made up of conducting polymers.

Via Live Science & Inhabitat.