When it comes to the king of fruits, you either love it or hate it. Some people swear by it while others absolutely detest it. The fruit is so polarising, it was even on an episode of Fear Factor once. Call it the king of fruits or the worlds smelliest fruit, it doesn’t matter, researchers at the University of Sydney have somehow developed a method that uses durian and jackfruit waste to create energy stores for rapid electricity charging. Yup, you read that right.
So how exactly does it work? It’s kind of technical so who better to explain it than the dude behind it himself:
“Using durian and jackfruit purchased from a market, we converted the fruits’ waste portions (biomass) into super-capacitors that can be used to store electricity efficiently.
“Using a non-toxic and non-hazardous green engineering method that used heating in water and freeze drying of the fruit’s biomass, the durian and jackfruit were transformed into stable carbon aerogels — an extremely light and porous synthetic material used for a range of applications.
“Carbon aerogels make great super-capacitors because they are highly porous. We then used the fruit-derived aerogels to make electrodes which we tested for their energy storage properties, which we found to be exceptional.”
Associate Professor Vincent Gomes
It turns out that the waste from durians and jackfruits can be turned into super-capacitors, which is the same technology that powers Samsung’s S-Pen. Super-capacitors are kind of like energy reservoirs that can quickly store large amounts of energy within a small battery-sized device. It’s worth noting however that while super-capacitors charge up incredibly quickly, they also have a low energy density. So while a typical compact battery in a smartphone can keep it running the whole day, a super-capacitor with an equal amount of energy will be a dozen times larger.
So, what is it that’s so special about durians and jackfruits? Apparently durian waste makes excellent porous aerogels. In fact, durian and jackfruit waste actually make for much better materials than graphene based materials currently in use.
“Durian waste, as a zero-cost substance that the community wants to get rid of urgently due to its repulsive, nauseous smell, is a sustainable source that can transform the waste into a product to substantially reduce the cost of energy storage through our chemical-free, green synthesis protocol.”
In the face of a world where fossil fuels are rapidly depleting, sustainably sourced materials that do not contribute to global warming is essential, and this breakthrough could very well be key in developing high efficiency energy storage devices that are sustainable.
Will this breakthrough in super-capacitor tech be replacing conventional batteries anytime soon? Probably not, but this is most definitely a start to a more sustainable future.
