UPV/EHU researchers have shown that science and technology can come together to create a sustainable and revolutionary solution. Their latest discovery, a compostable battery that can be recharged more than 10,000 times, has the potential to change the way we understand energy forever.

Defying the rules: the compostable battery

What makes this battery truly exceptional is its compostability. Made from natural materials such as cellulose and the glue that molluscs use to stick to rocks, this battery can be disposed of in the brown bin without harming the environment.

According to Erlantz Lizundia, a professor at the School of Engineering in Bilbao and one of the authors of the study, the aim was to develop a sustainable and cheap alternative to the usual lithium batteries, which cause great damage to the environment when they are disposed of.

Battery for the future with a useful life of 27 years

But the compostable battery is not only environmentally friendly, but also very durable. According to Lizundia, the battery can be charged daily for 27 years, an amazing achievement that far exceeds the lifespan of many batteries today.

This unprecedented ability to store and release energy could be game-changing for the energy industry.

The next step: massification and practical application

With a battery that can last almost three decades and can be safely composted, researchers from Bilbao have challenged what we thought was possible in terms of energy technology. But this is just the beginning. The next step will be figuring out how to bring this technology to the mass market and how it can be applied in practical situations. After all, a battery is only as useful as the devices it can power.

In a world where sustainability and energy efficiency are increasingly in focus, this development can have significant consequences. It could change the way we power our devices, reduce the amount of toxic waste we produce and help us move towards a greener, more sustainable future.

In short, the discovery of the Basque engineers could very well be the future of batteries: compostable, sustainable and efficient. And all thanks to a little cellulose, a little mollusk glue and a good dose of Basque ingenuity.

20 million mobile phones are discarded every year in Spain

Today, we would not be able to complete our daily tasks without mobile phones and other electronic devices. But, unfortunately, the life expectancy of these devices is quite limited. In Spain, more than 20 million mobile phone devices are discarded every year.

Behind this number is, on the one hand, planned obsolescence, both due to hardware incompatibility and the lack of operating system updates. Another key aspect of this type of device is the battery, which is usually based on lithium-ion technology. These batteries typically have a useful life of less than 1,000 charges.

Thus, smartphones are used for an average of 18 months, and in very rare cases they are used for more than four or five years.

One of the strategies to solve these problems would be to develop transient batteries based on abundant materials that degrade into non-toxic by-products. All this while maintaining the performance standards of conventional lithium-ion batteries. But is this really possible?

Circular economy, a partial solution

The most widespread solution today is to adopt circular models that deviate from the linear production system. This is to move from "produce, consume, throw away" to new habits, to be able to reuse mobile devices, or part of them, in other applications.

If we consider the circular approach, reuse or remanufacturing alternatives should be preferred over recycling. A possible option is collateral systems, collection systems and second-hand markets.

There are those who recondition mobile phones after the theme collection, so that they can be sold at a lower cost. Such initiatives generate significant environmental, social and economic benefits.

Another option is to recycle the batteries. Through various chemical and thermal treatments, economically important materials can be extracted from batteries, which will then be used to manufacture new batteries. In this way, the harmful effects of materials such as lithium, cobalt or manganese are limited, and the need for traditional mining metal extraction processes is avoided.

But what about electronic devices that cannot be treated?

Non-collectible mobile phones

It should be noted that cell phones are the electronic devices with the lowest collection rates. Despite the efforts of various public institutions, such as the installation of unassisted mobile hotspots, there is a very high risk of losing many cell phones in the environment.

Only 17.4% is properly collected, treated and recycled. The rest is undocumented, and much of it ends up in different destinations, from landfills to forests, rivers or seas. This means that a large amount of non-biodegradable and highly toxic materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese and organic electrolytes end up polluting the soil, air, water and living organisms; including humans.