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Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy / Volume 3 / Issue 6 / REGULAR ARTICLES

J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 3, 063106 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3659289 (16 pages)

Electrical energy from foods

S. Abdalla and A. A. Al-Ghamdi

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, KAU, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

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(Received 21 June 2011; accepted 19 October 2011; published online 28 November 2011)

Presenting new sources of safe energy sources is not only an urgent need but also a vital input for social and economic development. In this work, we present a novel technology to produce electric energy from food; in particular from commercial potatoes. The food has been sandwiched between two metals; for example, Zn/potatoes/Cu and the open circuit electric potentials Voc have been measured. It has been found that Voc lay in the range Voc 0.32 V < Voc < 1.39 V and decays exponentially by time. The open circuit potential varies from food to another and depends also on the metallic contacts and food thickness. It has been found that Voc is a function of the potatoes thickness, which has a maximum at 1.05 V and the corresponding maximum short circuit current is about 1.7 mA. The internal resistivity for the potatoes battery is about 1.4 × 104 Ω cm and the metallic electrodes resistance is about 57.4 Ω × area for Zn/Cu electrodes. The short circuit current depends on the nature of the metallic electrodes and the food itself. This current is very sensitive to the food thickness. At a critical thickness when the potato slice is about 0.18  cm, the maximum short circuit current density of the potatoes battery is about 15.7  μA/cm2. The maximum electric power, generated at 0.18  cm, equals155 μW/cm2. The Zn/potatoes/Cu battery has electric capacity 2.57 times more efficient than an AA/LR6 1.5 V alkaline Energizer® battery. Also, cost analysis has showed that potatoes-cells generate electric energy 26 fold cheaper than commercially available Energizer® battery. This work presents a new energy source: Safe, economic, durable, and renewable; also it can fit most applications.

© 2011 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
    1. Electrical characterization of food
    2. Metal contacts and electrodes
    3. Preparation of homo-conductive KCl solution
    4. The internal resistance of a food-battery
  3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
    1. Time independent electrical measurements (DC-experimental data)
    2. I-V characteristics of food-cell
    3. Electric power considerations
    4. Time dependent electrical measurements
    5. Model
    6. Electric capacity of a food battery: Comparative study with AA Energizer ® l91 battery
    7. Power optimization and primer coast study: Comparative study with AA Energizer ® l91 battery
  4. CONCLUSIONS

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

biofuel, cells (electric), contact resistance, electric potential, electric power generation, electric variables measurement, electrical contacts, electrochemical electrodes, short-circuit currents, socio-economic effects

PACS

  • 88.80.ff

    Batteries

  • 82.45.Fk

    Electrodes

  • 82.47.-a

    Applied electrochemistry

  • 84.37.+q

    Measurements in electric variables (including voltage, current, resistance, capacitance, inductance, impedance, and admittance, etc.)

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3659289

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1941-7012 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in.
    A. Goldberg, D. R. Haim, and Rubinsky, J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 2, 033103 (2010)JRSEBH000002000003033103000001.

    H. P. Schwan and C. D. Ferris, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 39, 481 (1968)RSINAK000039000004000481000001.


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