Crab Batteries

While crabs are not the only creatures that contain chitin (a protein found in their shells), they are some of the easiest to come by in semi-large quantities. Chitin is also found in the exoskeletons of insects, the shells of other crustaceans, and the cell walls of fungi among other things. Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide (chain sugar/poly-sugar) in nature, of course with cellulose being the most common-it's a polymer chain of N-acetylglucosamine.

s chitin something we already utilize in our day-to-day life? Yes, and it's not just the act of removing and throwing away crustacean shells while eating. In case you didn't know, chitin is currently used to make biodegradable "plastic", surgical thread, and can be used as a binder for dyes, fabrics, and adhesives. In short, something that seems so gross and useless can be used for things that we need in our everyday lives, and we don't even think about it.

While we were mostly kidding about scientists driving the price of crabs to be higher due to using them to make batteries, the chitin-based batteries at a first glance truly do appear to be a good idea. Lithium-ion batteries aren't exactly the most environmentally (or user, since over time they will expand/explode) friendly battery option though they are some of the most common. Lithium doesn't just fall from the sky; it has to be mined, and mining generally isn't something that is easy on the surrounding areas. In fact, the U.S. gets lithium internally in addition to internationally, but again, lithium is not exactly a clean energy source nor is it something that easily degrades over time.

In contrast, the developed chitin-based batteries are biodegradable and were observed to decompose in soil after five months, leaving its other component, zinc, to be recycled. Yes, zinc is also something to be mined, but at least it can be used again (aka recycled) since it's a metal and not a mineral. The University of Maryland team that developed the chitin-based batteries also found that the batteries are 99.7% efficient after 400 hours of use.

The next stage of this experiment will be to ensure that the quality of the batteries is standard even when mass produced, which while this will be something relatively costly, it will be nowhere near trying to do the same thing with lithium-based batteries. We will be watching the development of these batteries as they are the perfect mix to replace conventional lithium-based batteries. What do we mean by that? These new batteries can be made in a factory, they're cheap, and they're environmentally friendly without losing the quality that we're used to seeing. Sustainable technology seems to be getting better and better over the years!

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