Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 hr ago
Vitamin B12 helps experimental zinc-air battery recharge up to 250 times
Researchers at the University of Córdoba in Spain built a rechargeable zinc-air battery using vitamin B12 to help drive its chemical reactions.
Zinc-air batteries generate electricity using zinc and oxygen from the surrounding air, and are already used in devices such as hearing aids.
Making them rechargeable is difficult because they need a catalyst that supports both electricity generation and recharging.
Vitamin B12 acted as that catalyst, helping the battery produce electricity and then recharge.
Because B12 dissolves in water, the team attached it to single-walled carbon nanotubes to keep it in place in the battery's water-based electrolyte.
The prototype completed up to 250 charge and discharge cycles, but the work is still experimental and does not establish that it is ready for wider use.
Zinc-air batteries use abundant, recyclable zinc and nonflammable, water-based electrolytes, so this approach could offer another option for energy storage, including storing surplus renewable electricity.
Researchers at the University of Córdoba in Spain developed an experimental zinc-air battery using vitamin B12 as a catalyst.
The prototype completed up to 250 charge and discharge cycles.
The researchers attached B12 to single-walled carbon nanotubes to keep it in place in the battery’s water-based electrolyte.
Zinc-air batteries draw oxygen from the surrounding air and are used in small devices such as hearing aids.
- Who
- Researchers at the University of Córdoba, including Manuel Cano Luna and Antonio Jesús Fernández Romero.
- What
- They developed an experimental rechargeable zinc-air battery using vitamin B12 as a catalyst. It completed up to 250 charge and discharge cycles.
- When
- Not stated
- Where
- The University of Córdoba in Spain.
- Why
- The researchers aimed to use naturally occurring materials in a rechargeable battery. B12 can support the reactions involved in discharge and recharging.
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- Recharge cycles
- Up to 250
- Research institution
- University of Córdoba
- Battery type
- Zinc-air
- Catalyst
- Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin
- Carbon material
- Single-walled carbon nanotubes
What people are saying
has proven to meet the necessary conditions to act as a good catalyst because, during discharge, it catalyzes the reduction of oxygen to water and, during recharging, it promotes the production of oxygen
we looked at the properties we can find in naturally occurring materials to use them in new batteries.