No. 384: A trial sheet-like bio-battery that can generate electricity using sugar (December 19, 2011)

Sony developed a trial sheet-like bio-battery that generates electricity using sugar. The trial product can generate electricity if you drop juice on it. It can play the music box incorporated in a Christmas card several times with a few drops of juice. It sandwiches the electrode between two sheets of paper, and juice is to be dropped onto the hole at the center of the paper. It has an enzyme that a creature needs to get energy by dissolving sugar.

It is a few millimeters thick, and carbon is used in place of a metal for the electrode to make it lighter. It is environmentally-friendly because dissolving sugar only produces water. Theoretically, a bowl of rice contains sugar that generates energy equivalent to the energy created by 96 size AA alkaline batteries. Sony plans to increase the generation capacity of this sheet-like bio-battery and develop devices that can make the best use of its lightweight and thinness. Sony already developed a box-type bio-battery capable to allow a Walkman to play music for several hours.