An institute in Shizuoka Prefecture has been working on a storage battery that uses activated charcoal made with coffee grounds, focusing on the environmental and cost benefits of using recycled waste.
"It is as efficient as ordinary activated charcoal. I hope it will be used for a wide variety of purposes," said Keisuke Kikuchi, a senior researcher at Industrial Research Institute of Shizuoka Prefecture.
Activated charcoal, which has many microscopic holes on the surface, can store electricity when it is soaked in an electrolyte solution. The finer the holes and the wider the surface area, the more electricity it can store. Storage batteries are widely used in factories for emergency backup power during blackouts.