Goodbye graphene, hello durian
Australian researchers come up with a promising idea for a future energy storage solution that relies on durian and jackfruit
With much of the world attempting to move towards clean energy, a research team from the University of Sydney, Australia has published a paper showing how organic waste, in their case from durian, can be used to produce supercapacitors.
Supercapacitors are devices that store and discharge large amounts of electrical energy quickly, functioning similarly to batteries.
The paper, which the Thai Ministry of Energy has reproduced from the Journal of Energy Storage, demonstrated how organic waste can be used as a substitute for expensive materials like carbon nanotubes or graphene in the production of supercapacitors.
In developing these supercapacitors, the research team heated durian cores in water and then freeze-dried them to produce aerogels. These aerogels are lightweight but have high carbon content, allowing them to store and release energy to other devices. This method can also be applied to jackfruit.
The benefits of this research could provide an additional clean energy source with no environmental impact.
However, the research is still in the experimental phase, and the team is now planning to continue developing the durian-based supercapacitors for industrial use.
