An employee of Sony demonstrates a new bio battery, generated from the cellilose of recycle papers, powering a fan (L) at the Eco-Products exhibition in Tokyo.
Japanese electronics giant Sony on Thursday revealed technology that generates electricity from shredded paper.
"This is the same mechanism with which termites eat wood to get energy," said Chisato Kitsukawa, a public relations manager at Sony.
"Bio batteries are environmentally friendly and have great potential" as they use no metals or harmful chemicals, Kitsukawa said.
The performance was part of Sony's drive to develop a sugar-based "bio battery" that turns glucose into power.
Shredded paper or pieces of corrugated board were used at the fair to provide cellulose, a long chain of glucose sugar found in the walls of green plants.
Enzymes are used to break the chain and the resulting sugar is then processed by another group of enzymes in a process that provides hydrogen ions and electrons.
The electrons travel through an outer circuit to generate electricity, while the hydrogen ions combine with oxygen from the air to create water.
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