Main image via Interesting Engineering + Koadim
As Malaysians, we’re extremely proud to have some of the best durians in the world! From the smell to the taste to the custardy texture, our love for the King of Fruits knows no bounds!
But did you know that durians are not only good for eating, they’re also good for making chargers??
Yup! We kid you not!
via GIPHY
An associate professor from the University of Sydney School of Chemical & Bimolecular Engineering dared to dream the impossible when he coauthored a new scientific paper that “describes a novel method for extracting durian and jackfruit biowaste for more efficient, ultra-quick electro chargers,” Popular Mechanics reports.
It turns out that the King of Fruits is not only delicious but its biowaste can in fact synthesise supercapacitors!
Vincent G. Gomes, the associate professor who made the discovery, recently had his findings published in thelatest issue of Journal of Energy Storage.
If you’re thinking that pieces of the fruit is simply shoved into a tube, that’s not really how it’s done…
The professor found that him and his team were able to extract the innards of the fruit, synthesize it and transform it into supercapacitors which are capable of storing huge amounts of energy.
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But why did this professor choose the iconic fruit, known for its overwhelming smell?
According to Vincent, his choice was made based on the durian’s natural and “extraordinary solution” towards energy storage.
The fruit’s structural precision of natural biomass “affords an outstanding resource as a template for the synthetic of carbon-based materials,” he noted in his paper.
“The fibrous, fleshy portions of organic wastes with good mechanical stability were considered as candidate precursors compared to hard, dense ones. The waste fruit cores of durian and jackfruit were selected as candidates based on their structures and their prospect of intrinsic nitrogen doping,” he wrote.
The move towards discovering a new method of energy storage is definitely a good one as using durians is better for the environment.
Even more, these supercapacitors have larger metal plats inside them in comparison to the current lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, and they don’t contain toxic metals as well.
Supercapacitors are also able to be recharged infinitively!
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Imagine having a phone charger made out of your favourite fruit!
Do you think durian chargers are the next step into the future? Would you get one if you could? Let us know!
Info via Popular Mechanics
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