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Indian scientists recycle fish scales into green energy
File photo shows a fishing harbour in Munambam, Kochi, which has trouble
disposing of fish waste. Scientists have shown how fish waste can be
used to produce energy. Photo:Vipin Chandran
Fish scales contain collagen fibres that generate an electric charge in response to mechanical stress. The scientists harvested this as an energy source
A team of researchers at Jadavpur University here has developed a
biodegradable energy harvester - from raw fish scales - which could be
tapped as a sustainable green energy source for next generation
self-powered implantable medical devices.
It also has the potential for personal portable electronics with reduced e-waste elements said the researchers.
Fish scales, a by-product that is usually thrown away, contain collagen
fibres that possess a piezoelectric property, which means that an
electric charge is generated in them in response to mechanical stress.
The researchers have synthesised flexible bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator (BPNG) from this bio-waste.
Assistant Professor at Organic Nano-Piezoelectric Device Laboratory,
Dipankar Mandal explained: “We collected bio-waste in the form of hard,
raw fish scales from a fish processing market, and then used a
demineralization process to make them transparent and flexible.”
“We were able to make a bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator (or energy
harvester) with electrodes on both sides, and then laminated them,” said
Mr. Mandal, from the Department of Physics, at Jadavpur University.
Recycling value
The recycling of the fish by-products into the BPNG via one step process
is a promising solution for the development of value-added products and
also to reduce the e-waste.
The nanogenerator also scavenges several types of ambient mechanical
energies such as body movements, machine and sound vibrations, and wind
flow which are abundant in living environment, and even repeated tapping
with a finger.
Repeatedly touching the BPNG with a finger can turn on more than 50 blue LEDs.
The team’s work is the first known demonstration of the direct
piezoelectric effect of fish scales from electricity generated by a
bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator under mechanical stimuli - without the
need for any post-electrical poling treatments.
Potential uses
The group’s work could potentially be used in transparent electronics,
biocompatible and biodegradable electronics, edible electronics.
It can also be used in self-powered implantable medical devices,
surgeries, e-healthcare monitoring, as well as in vitro and in vivo
diagnostics, apart from its myriad uses for portable electronics.
“In the future, our goal is to implant a bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator
into a heart for pacemaker devices, where it will continuously generate
power from heartbeats for the device’s operation,” Mr. Mandal said.
“It will then degrade when no longer needed. Since heart tissue is also
composed of collagen, our bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator is expected to
be very compatible with the heart.”
Disposal of the fish bio-waste increases environmental pollution.
The study was published in the journal Applied Physics Letters in September and is co-authored by S.K. Ghosh.
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