Govind Tekale
Tea, besides being a healthy beverage, may have a new and promising utility. Scientists from Harvard University (United States) have found that used tea leaves possess characteristics that make them suitable for use in the anodes of batteries powering electric cars and other devices.
Tea is a healthy drink consumed by millions worldwide. According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, production of green and black tea alone reached 7.4 million tons in 2023, resulting in substantial waste from this beverage. Although these wastes are organic, they also contribute to environmental issues.
Research led by Xingcai Zhang at Harvard University, published in Advanced Functional Materials, suggests that these biological residues could be repurposed for various applications. For instance, they could serve as a biomass source, or as eco-friendly sources of polymers and bioactive compounds for medicinal purposes. Another highly promising possibility is their use as a key ingredient in energy storage.
As known, batteries convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy and require two elements to function effectively: an anode and a cathode. Used tea leaves contain several compounds that can influence this process through the decomposition of their components, resulting in a porous structure of carbon residues. This residue can function as an electrode in batteries.
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This makes TS-1400-HCl (as this structure has been dubbed) a suitable porous material for battery anodes (the part through which electric current flows). According to tests, it outperforms existing carbon anodes with a 70% higher initial capacity, 91% higher efficiency in the first charge-discharge cycle, and a lifespan seven to nine times longer over 500 cycles.
Moreover, this carbon derived from tea waste offers the ecological advantage of being a cheap, eco-friendly process using raw materials literally sourced from waste products. Therefore, it could present a compelling alternative to lithium-based batteries and help reduce the environmental impact of this process.
