The Effect of Various Biochar Cathodes on the Voltage Potential, Amperage, and Capacity of an Aluminum Battery

Ella BakerFollow

School Name

Spring Valley High School

Grade Level

10th Grade

Presentation Topic

Engineering

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Abstract

Developing new electrochemical cells is vital to maintaining clean energy sources. The current lithium ion battery is very expensive, has limited capacity, and uses materials that are difficult to mine and harmful to the earth. Because of these issues, battery alternatives are being investigated. One alternative to lithium is aluminum due to its low cost and high theoretical capacity. Biochar is a carbon-based material made from any type of biomass. It has been used in microbial fuel cells and was found to produce high voltages. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an aluminum ion battery with a biochar cathode. It was hypothesized that the banana-based biochar would have a higher capacity, voltage, and amperage than graphite and pine wood biochar. It was predicted that pine-derived biochar would perform better than graphite but worse than banana-based biochar. Banana-based biochar, pine-based biochar, and graphite were wrapped in filter paper and aluminum to create the battery cells. The cells were submerged in an aluminum chloride and urea electrolyte. A voltage probe was used to measure the voltage, amperage, and capacity of the batteries. The results of an ANOVA test (α=0.05) indicate that there were significant differences between the amperage and capacity of the batteries (p<0.0001), but no significant difference in voltage (p=0.199). The graphite cathode outperformed both biochar cathodes in amperage and capacity. Banana-based biochar cathode had a higher mean amperage and capacity than the pine-based biochar cathode.

Location

RITA 103

Start Date

3-23-2024 10:15 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 23rd, 10:15 AM

The Effect of Various Biochar Cathodes on the Voltage Potential, Amperage, and Capacity of an Aluminum Battery

RITA 103

Developing new electrochemical cells is vital to maintaining clean energy sources. The current lithium ion battery is very expensive, has limited capacity, and uses materials that are difficult to mine and harmful to the earth. Because of these issues, battery alternatives are being investigated. One alternative to lithium is aluminum due to its low cost and high theoretical capacity. Biochar is a carbon-based material made from any type of biomass. It has been used in microbial fuel cells and was found to produce high voltages. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an aluminum ion battery with a biochar cathode. It was hypothesized that the banana-based biochar would have a higher capacity, voltage, and amperage than graphite and pine wood biochar. It was predicted that pine-derived biochar would perform better than graphite but worse than banana-based biochar. Banana-based biochar, pine-based biochar, and graphite were wrapped in filter paper and aluminum to create the battery cells. The cells were submerged in an aluminum chloride and urea electrolyte. A voltage probe was used to measure the voltage, amperage, and capacity of the batteries. The results of an ANOVA test (α=0.05) indicate that there were significant differences between the amperage and capacity of the batteries (p<0.0001), but no significant difference in voltage (p=0.199). The graphite cathode outperformed both biochar cathodes in amperage and capacity. Banana-based biochar cathode had a higher mean amperage and capacity than the pine-based biochar cathode.