Abstract
Edible electronics explores the electronic properties of food-derived materials and food additives to develop a completely safe-to-ingest technology with possible applications in medicine and agrifood. Among the different edible electronic components realized in recent years, edible rechargeable batteries represent an unprecedented opportunity for energy storage, with applications that go beyond edible electronics. Their intrinsic safety and sustainability can be a key aspect in replacing traditional batteries in medical and agrifood low-power electronic devices, reducing health hazards and environmental impact.Starting from the redox reaction between two molecules commonly found in food, riboflavin and quercetin, we developed the first edible rechargeable battery, characterized by an operating voltage of ⁓0.65 V. All the battery components are fabricated using materials that can be safely ingested, like activated carbon, edible gold leaves, ethyl cellulose, and beeswax. Edible battery stability has been extensively tested, showing a stable capacity of ⁓20 µAh over two weeks of storage at room temperature. The possibility to implement these batteries in different scenarios has been verified by cycling them in different environmental conditions, proving stable performance between 0 and 37 °C. Successful integration with both traditional and edible electronic components has been achieved, indicating a feasible path along the development of edible batteries as critical components in sustainable agrifood IoT nodes as well as power supplies in future edible electronic systems for medical and food monitoring applications.
Published Version
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