Towards an all-printed biodegradable battery

Abstract

During the last decades, the need for power sources has significantly intensified. Unfortunately, most of the billions of batteries produced each year end up in landfills, generating ever-increasing amounts of toxic electronic waste (e-waste). The need to develop battery technologies that are more respectful of the environment is therefore of critical importance. However, the efforts to develop such batteries are surprisingly scarce. Primary (non-rechargeable) batteries, which are being discarded after a single use, are a perfect example of a battery technology that should be replaced by a more environmentally friendly solution, to help decrease e-waste. In this study, an essentially biodegradable Zn–MnO₂ primary battery is presented, its polymeric components having been replaced by biodegradable analogues, either from existing materials or developed in-house following the principles of ecological design. Importantly, the manufacturability of each battery component has been taken into account to ensure industrial relevance. The resulting battery can be produced using high-throughput printing technologies and its performances are comparable to commercially available batteries of the same chemistry, with the added benefit of being fully degraded in a two-month period in typical composting conditions.