Bamboo rechargeable battery

Specialists of the Institute of Chemistry of the V.V. Kuibyshev Far-Eastern State Polytechnic University (Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences) have designed an experimental facility for producing anodic matrices for rechargeable lithium-ion cells. The rechargeable cells are made of renewable vegetable stuff – bamboo sprouts and cane-sugar.

Dynamic evolution of portable electronics is impossible without rechargeable lithium-ion cells. They take a leading place in the area of self-contained power supply. Irrespective of the rechargeable cells shape and dimensions, anode, cathode and electrolyte make part of the cells. To produce them, researchers are trying to select the less-expensive and nonpolluting materials, keeping in mind, however, the quality of the article. The Far-Eastern researchers suggest that the cells should be produced from bamboo sprouts and cane-sugar of Chinese manufacturing. To produce anodic material, the raw stuff is cleaned and then heated up several times at high temperatures (from 800°Ñ to 1100°Ñ), cool off and reduce to fine particles. In the course of manufacturing, the material is processed by soda, calcium, sodium and potassium chlorides, and sodium hydroxide. As a result, carbon dust is obtained, its particle size making about 14 microns.

The obtained anodic materials fit for both lithium-ion and lithium-polymer rechargeable cells. As the investigations have proved, the obtained carbonic modifications contain oval-shaped particles of a layer structure resembling graphite layer structure. The obtained carbonic structures are practically similar to the structure of commercial anodic materials (graphite modifications), i.e., they have a crystal structure. They possess very good operating qualities and even exceed some commercial materials. Nevertheless, to enable carbon modifications (obtained from cane-sugar and bamboo sprouts) serve as the anode material for lithium-ion (polymer) rechargeable cells, their processing characteristics should be refined.