You know the old saying: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”?
Well, when it comes to creating better batteries, we might just want to put all our hopes into eggshells!
A scientist named Dr. Manickam Minakshi Sundaram from Murdoch University has made a super cool discovery.
He’s found out that chicken eggshells could help make batteries better, cheaper, and even more eco-friendly.
How? Let’s break it down.
Usually, when you crack open an egg to make your breakfast, you throw away the shell. But these shells might have a hidden power.
They contain something called calcium carbonate. When you bake and crush these eggshells, they change and can help move electricity better. That’s a big deal for batteries!
Right now, most of the batteries we use, especially the ones that store power from renewable sources like the sun and wind, are made with some materials that aren’t the best for our planet.
They often need fossil fuels (which we’re trying to use less of) and can be quite expensive. Plus, sometimes, they can be risky if something goes wrong.
But with eggshells? They come from nature, are easy to get, and are usually just thrown away. Using them in batteries could make the batteries safer, and also help our environment.
Imagine turning what’s usually trash into something super useful!
It’s like getting extra value from something we didn’t know had value.
And there’s more good news! Eggs are everywhere. We use them in cooking at home, in big food factories, and even in medicine.
But most of the time, after using the inside, the shells just end up in the trash. Now, instead of just tossing them away, we could use them to help power our world. It’s like finding treasure in our trash.
This discovery isn’t just about science. It’s also about changing the way we think and do things. Instead of always taking new things from the Earth, we can reuse what we already have.
It’s like turning our world into a big loop where we use, reuse, and recycle things over and over. This helps our planet, our wallets, and can even create new jobs.
Dr. Minakshi’s work didn’t stop with eggshells. He also looked at other waste items we often overlook, like bits from seafood, mango seeds, and leftovers from making wine. From these, he made a special type of carbon that can also help batteries work better.
So, next time you crack an egg, think about how its shell might one day be part of a battery, powering up your gadgets or even your home.
It’s amazing how nature, with a little help from science, can offer solutions to our modern-day challenges!
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Source: Murdoch University.
