Don’t Throw Away the Packing Peanuts, They Could Charge Your Gadget
Scientists have discovered a new technology that converts polystyrene packing peanuts into high performance carbon electrodes to make lithium-ion batteries.
Inspiration for the research project came when equipment was being delivered to set up a new laboratory at Purdue University and the team wanted to put them to use.
What they got was a potential eco-friendly application for the mass amounts of packaging waste generated around the world.
The team will present their paper “Upcycling of Packing-Peanuts into Carbon Microsheet Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries” at the 249th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition in Denver taking place from March 22 to 26.
