A Kick-Butt Way to Power Electronics

Used cigarette filters could provide useful energy storage material.

By Leah Shaffer
Apr 2, 2015 5:00 AMNov 12, 2019 4:48 AM
cigarette butts.jpg
StepanPopov / Shutterstock

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

The used cigarette butts littering your city’s sidewalks could serve as an energy storage material for anything from smartphones to wind turbines. South Korean chemical engineers successfully converted used cigarette filters into a type of porous carbon ideal for conducting electricity.

Minzae Lee and team subjected the filters to a high-temperature process called pyrolysis, transforming the organic materials inside them into a porous carbon substance. Then they applied the carbon to the surface of electrode materials used in supercapacitors, devices that store and deliver energy more quickly and more powerfully than a typical battery.

The porous carbon performed better as conductive electrode material than conventional carbon sources, often heat-treated coconut shells, coal or wood. There’s no word yet on a real-world pilot program, but we hope researchers aren’t just blowing smoke about its potential.

1 free article left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

1 free articleSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.