{"id":1048663,"date":"2012-06-03T15:49:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-03T15:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/chemistry\/from-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job.php"},"modified":"2024-08-17T17:57:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T21:57:42","slug":"from-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/chemistry\/from-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job.php","title":{"rendered":"From sink to supercapacitor: kitchen sponge gets a new job"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The humble kitchen sponge, whose day-to-day job is to scour dishes, has now been put to work in an energy storage device by scientists in Saudi Arabia.<\/p><p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/en\/content\/articlelanding\/2012\/jm\/c2jm32030d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Husam Alshareef and colleagues<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong>from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal have used a sponge as a platform to support a carbon-based electrode and a transition metal oxide electrode in a supercapacitor, together with an organic electrolyte, a combination that significantly increases the amount of energy that the device can store (energy density) compared to devices using aqueous electrolytes.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/0e593_kitchen-sponge_shutterstock_94320631_300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-11941\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/0e593_kitchen-sponge_shutterstock_94320631_300.jpg\" alt=\" \" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a><\/p><p>Supercapacitors are energy storage devices with a higher power density than batteries, but their low energy density &ndash; an obstacle to their use in many potential applications &ndash; has led to research into improving it. This can be done in two ways: enhancing the device capacitance by getting the right electrode material and enhancing the working voltage window, which can be done by using an organic electrolyte instead of an aqueous electrolyte.<\/p><p>The team coated a sponge with carbon nanotubes, followed by a layer of MnO<sub>2 <\/sub>(both good electrode materials). They tested the device with organic and aqueous electrolytes and found that it gave a good electrochemical performance with both, but the energy density was tripled with the organic electrolyte. The sponge&rsquo;s role is to allow electrolytes to flow to the entire electrode surface where the redox reactions take place.<\/p><p>Gives a new meaning to the phrase &lsquo;kitchen chemistry&rsquo;!<\/p><p><em>Elinor Hughes<\/em><\/p><div><a href=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F&amp;title=From+sink+to+supercapacitor%3A+kitchen+sponge+gets+a+new+job\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/0e593_digg.png\" alt=\"Digg This\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F&amp;title=From+sink+to+supercapacitor%3A+kitchen+sponge+gets+a+new+job\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/0e593_reddit.png\" alt=\"Reddit This\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stumbleupon.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F&amp;title=From+sink+to+supercapacitor%3A+kitchen+sponge+gets+a+new+job\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/0e593_stumbleupon.png\" alt=\"Stumble Now!\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?t=From+sink+to+supercapacitor%3A+kitchen+sponge+gets+a+new+job&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/0e593_facebook.png\" alt=\"Share on Facebook\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/delicious.com\/save?title=From+sink+to+supercapacitor%3A+kitchen+sponge+gets+a+new+job&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/b9207_delicious.png\" alt=\"Bookmark this on Delicious\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F&amp;title=From+sink+to+supercapacitor%3A+kitchen+sponge+gets+a+new+job&amp;summary=&amp;source=\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/b9207_linkedin.png\" alt=\"Share on LinkedIn\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/faves?add=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/b9207_technorati.png\" alt=\"Bookmark this on Technorati\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Reading+http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/454be_twitter.png\" alt=\"Post on Twitter\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/buzz\/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fprospect.rsc.org%2Fblogs%2Fcw%2F2012%2F05%2F30%2Ffrom-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job%2F\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.immortalitymedicine.tv\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-o-matic\/cache\/454be_google_buzz.png\" alt=\"Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)\" style=\"padding-left:10px; padding-right: 10px;\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/div><p>Source:<br><a href=\"http:\/\/prospect.rsc.org\/blogs\/cw\/?feed=rss2\">http:\/\/prospect.rsc.org\/blogs\/cw\/?feed=rss2<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The humble kitchen sponge, whose day-to-day job is to scour dishes, has now been put to work in an energy storage device by scientists in Saudi Arabia.Husam Alshareef and colleagues&nbsp;from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/chemistry\/from-sink-to-supercapacitor-kitchen-sponge-gets-a-new-job.php\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1246863],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1048663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1048663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1048663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1048663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1048663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}