Urine-Powered Batteries Developed for Cell Phones

**bigbrother** · August 17th, 2005 03:55 PM

Urine-Powered Batteries Developed for Cell Phones, maybe in the near future no more hybrid car, there gonna be urine powered cars.

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/34588.html

Physicists in Singapore have succeeded in creating the first paper battery that generates electricity from urine. This new battery will be the perfect power source for cheap, disposable healthcare test-kits for diseases such as diabetes, and could even be used in emergency situations to power a cell phone.

Scientists in research groups around the world are trying to design ever smaller "biochips" that can test for a variety of diseases at once, give instant results, and, crucially, can be mass produced cheaply. But until now, no one has been able to solve the problem of finding a power source as small and as cheap to fabricate as the detection technology itself.

Led by Dr Ki Bang Lee, a research team at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have developed a paper battery that is small, cheap to fabricate, and which ingeniously uses the bio-fluid being tested (e.g. urine) as the power source for the device doing the testing.

The chemical composition of urine is widely used as a way of testing for tell-tale signs of various diseases and also as an indicator of a person's general state of health. The concentration of glucose in urine is a useful diagnostic tool for diabetics. The lead researcher, Dr Lee, envisions a world where people will easily be able to monitor their health at home using disposable test-kits that don't need lithium batteries or external power sources.

Dr. Lee said: "We are striving to develop cheap, disposable credit card-sized biochips for disease detection. Our battery can be easily integrated into such devices, supplying electricity upon contact with biofluids such as urine."

The battery unit is made from a layer of paper that is steeped in copper chloride (CuCl) and sandwiched between strips of magnesium and copper. This "sandwich" is then held in place by being laminated, which involves passing the battery unit between a pair of transparent plastic films through a heating roller at 120 degrees Celsius. The final product has dimensions of 60 mm x 30 mm, and a thickness of just 1 mm (a little bit smaller than a credit card).

Writing in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, Lee describes how the battery was created and quantifies its performance. Using 0.2 ml of urine, they generated a voltage of around 1.5 V with a corresponding maximum power of 1.5 mW. They also found that the battery performances (such as voltage, power or duration) may be designed or adjusted by changing the geometry or materials used.

"Our urine-activated battery would be integrated into biochip systems for healthcare diagnostic applications," says Lee. He envisions a world where people will easily be able to monitor their health at home, seeking medical attention only when necessary. "These fully-integrated biochip systems have a huge market potential," adds Lee

**rsnald** · August 17th, 2005 04:26 PM

ayos to... dyinggel lang ang kailangan para sa kotse mo...

pero di kaya matuyuan ka nyan on long drives... baka kulangin ka sa dyinggel

:lol:

**Bogeyman** · August 17th, 2005 04:49 PM

Kapag nagkaroon na ng demand for urine-powered cellphones and cars, tataas na rin ang presyo ng iced tea at beer.

**yebo** · August 17th, 2005 05:31 PM

the idea actually is not new. for a long time there have been survival radios powered by batteries that use any electrolytic fluid - river or sea water, softdrinks, fruit juice, and yes even urine. nagaaral pa ko sa college may nabasa na ko sa scientific american magazine na ganyan. also, the emergency locator lights on lifejackets used in airplanes and ships are powered when immersed in water.

well, maybe because the size is very small so they're saying they "invented" it. ahhh, singapore! vanity is their number one past time!

OT: i overheard 2 singaporeans at a sales counter in singapore changgi airport 2 months ago. singapore male "i hate those indonesians and filipinos, always looking looking but no buy lah!" singapore female "yeah me too lah! especially filipinos! waste my time, don't care to entertain anymore. better they not come here, next time i shoo them away!" i called their manager, then i repeated what they said. then i gave to the manager the items i was going to buy. told her i will come back when his 2 employees do not work there anymore. i left. i passed by again last month, asked the guy in the counter and he told me the 2 got fired ehehehehehehehe!

**GasJunkie** · August 17th, 2005 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by yebo

OT: i overheard 2 singaporeans at a sales counter in singapore changgi airport 2 months ago. singapore male "i hate those indonesians and filipinos, always looking looking but no buy lah!" singapore female "yeah me too lah! especially filipinos! waste my time, don't care to entertain anymore. better they not come here, next time i shoo them away!" i called their manager, then i repeated what they said. then i gave to the manager the items i was going to buy. told her i will come back when his 2 employees do not work there anymore. i left. i passed by again last month, asked the guy in the counter and he told me the 2 got fired ehehehehehehehe!

Cool major ownage.

**boybi** · August 17th, 2005 10:18 PM

hehehe, ayos yan. kapag nagkataon na pwede ng gamitin ang urine to power cars, siguradong magkakaroon ng jingle factories. yung mga tambay na toma ng toma magkakaroon na ng trabaho! pati mga tamad magtrabaho pwde na rin, jingle lang naman ang gagawin buong araw.

hindi lang sagot sa problema sa langis ang jingle, pati unemployment mawawala!

**Psalm136:2** · August 17th, 2005 10:43 PM

di naman kaya pumanghi paligid natin nyan.

I remember back in the 90s, diba sa mga office CRs e may mga specially designed plastic containers to collect weewee.

**66bunny** · August 17th, 2005 11:07 PM

Scenario:

Man 1: Pare, lowbat ako. Kelangan ko tawagan si esmi.

Man 2: O ihian mo na yan!

Man 1: Di pa ako naiihi. Pwede ikaw muna?

Man 2: Ayoko nga! O makitext ka na lang sa akin.

Man 1: (nakikitext...) O, lowbat ka na rin. Bad trip.

Man 2: Anak ng...

Man 1: Saan ba pinakamalapit na CR dito? Makahingi na lang tayo.

Man 2: Ayuz.