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Sony Runs Walkman Off Sugar-Based Bio Battery
StonyandCher writes "Sony has created a battery that produces electricity by breaking down sugar. The bio cell, which measures 39 millimeters cubed, delivers 50mW — a world record for such a cell, according to the company. 'In the bio cell sugar-digesting enzymes at the anode extract electrons and hydrogen ions from the glucose. The hydrogen ions pass through a membrane separator to the cathode where they absorb oxygen from the air to produce water as a byproduct. The electrons flow around the circuit outside the device producing the electricity needed to power it.'"
Burning hydrogen in an ICE gives you more power than it takes to separate it out of water. So you burn hydrogen to get the power to separate out more hydrogen from water. The problem is, if we're so concerned with crops because we're using the crops for other things, why aren't we worried about the crops because we're using the water for other things? You'd also be using hydrogen production that is also being used to create ammonia for fertilizers for the crops.
Yeah, you can electrolyze seawater, but when you take the seawater out of the sea and burn the hydrogen in cities and the rain falls near there rather than letting it evaporate at its normal rate from the normal places, you're changing weather patterns just as surely as with greenhouse gases.
You get better efficiency from hydrogen fuel cells than from burning hydrogen, but the cells are more expensive to produce and replace than ICEs. Fuel cell grid plants and vehicles might still be a better option than ICE or turbine ones. Pure electric vehicles are more efficient still, but then you have the batteries, the charging delays, etc.
Hydrogen ICE cars with small fuel cells for the electronics (so you're not burning it just to turn a generator with part of it) or completely hydrogen fuel cell powered cars may be a good balance between efficiency and range, as one can refuel hydrogen much faster than one can recharge batteries, and hydrogen (while dangerous in its own right) is probably safer in the long run than most battery technologies.