Candle soot could power electric car batteries: Indian researchers

Hyderabad, Oct 8: Burning a candle could be all that it takes to make an inexpensive but powerful electric car battery, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology in Hyderabad have found. The research revealed that candle soot could be used to power the kind of lithium-ion battery that is used in plug-in hybrid electric cars. "We are very excited about the results. This new approach is very easy and the costs involved are minimal -- it would make battery production cheaper," said Chandra Sharma, one of the study authors. Sharma estimated that one hybrid car would need ten kg of carbon soot, which would be deposited in about an hour using candles. Their discovery opens up the possibilities of using carbon in more powerful batteries, driving down the cost of portable power. In the new study, Sharma and Manohar Kakunuri found that because of the shape and configuration of the tiny carbon nanoparticles, the carbon in candle soot is suitable for use in bigger batteries. The findings appeared in the journal Electrochimica Acta.