Human hair; wool could be used for lithium batteries

June 17, 2024 7:16 AM

Human hair and unwanted wool could be turned into a vital component for lithium batteries, researchers say. Charles Sturt University researchers say synthetic graphite made from hair and wool offcuts could help meet growing demand for the mineral, which is used to make lithium-ion batteries.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (25 comments total)

I suspect this is good news, but first thing Monday it reads as “new avenue for humans to become batteries”. 😰
posted by pulposus at 7:25 AM on June 17 [14 favorites]

Next up: human skin makes good batteries?
posted by Termite at 7:43 AM on June 17 [3 favorites]

Mr Tapley said there was a lot of research looking at how to produce high quality graphene at a low cost using renewable sources, but there was a long way to go for technology that used hair and wool as a source, and heat or chemicals in processing.

Ah my favourite type of science article, one that ends with saying everything before is a fun idea that is unlikely to be utilized in scale in reality.
posted by GoblinHoney at 7:57 AM on June 17 [14 favorites]

Is there an address where I can send my clippings in an envelope yet?
posted by terretu at 7:57 AM on June 17 [3 favorites]

As a prolific grower of hair, I look forward to being rich when they get this pipeline ironed out.
posted by Twain Device at 7:58 AM on June 17 [2 favorites]

So… sometime in the future, you’ll have a blue dot on your drivers license denoting that upon death, your hair goes to Tesla to make batteries?
posted by njohnson23 at 8:02 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

I would believe it if I learned that this is from a LLM trained on a French dictionary
posted by Glomar response at 8:04 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

In the meantime, exciting research into alternate uses of fingernail and toenail clippings continues apace. Once you've got enough clippings saved up, just put them in an ordinary postal envelope and address then to The Naglfar Institute, Scania, Sweden. No postage is required!
posted by phooky at 8:06 AM on June 17 [5 favorites]

Oh look; in a highly energy intensive, non scaleable process - you can make an allotrope of carbon from things that contain carbon.


I prefer papers like this.

To make our point of the meaninglessness of efforts to co-dope graphene with various elements experimentally, we evaluate in this work if guano-doped graphene poses any advantages over nonguano-doped graphene.
posted by lalochezia at 8:16 AM on June 17 [11 favorites]

In the meantime, exciting research into alternate uses of fingernail and toenail clippings continues apace.

It’s a low-key solution to climate change!
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:26 AM on June 17

Now that scene in The Matrix where Neo wakes up shaved bald in the human battery pod is going to look super dated.
posted by HeroZero at 8:30 AM on June 17 [5 favorites]

Now that scene in The Matrix where Neo wakes up shaved bald in the human battery pod is going to look super dated.

Of course he'd be bald, the machines have been stealing his hair and finger/toenail clippings the whole time!
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:57 AM on June 17 [6 favorites]

That clip at the end of The Animatrix Second Renaissance with the Ultimatum Bot: your fur is a relic, only a covering. Hand over your follicles, and a new wig awaits you: we demand it [nuke detonates].
posted by Ryvar at 9:40 AM on June 17

what will it take

an article on the (extremely) hypothetical properties of boogers to solve the energy needs of humanity, before any shred of doubt that we're being trolled is removed?

incidentally, I never really thought about the importance of the whaling industry in the US till I listened to a podcast on "Moby Dick" the other day. my god we killed a lot of whales
posted by elkevelvet at 9:46 AM on June 17

Of course he'd be bald, the machines have been stealing his hair and finger/toenail clippings the whole time!

I'm just saying the inevitable remake should star Zach Galifianakis or someone similarly hirsute.
posted by HeroZero at 9:55 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

Time to go trademark "Locks of Lithium"
posted by nickmark at 10:53 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

I have heard that advances in sodium ion batteries may make the li-ion obsolete.
posted by daHIFI at 11:36 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

I have heard that advances in sodium ion batteries may make the li-ion obsolete.

Unfortunately they can only be created using baby teeth.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:53 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

My pets create enough hair to support the battery needs of two families. Or is fur that different from hair when fulfilling a hypothetical solution?
posted by mightshould at 12:20 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]

Bears mentioning that this does *not* say that they’re getting lithium from the sources, but rather graphite.
posted by condour75 at 2:48 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]

I'm not saying they're wrong, but I feel like bears might have an ulterior motive for mentioning that.
posted by Not A Thing at 4:03 PM on June 17 [6 favorites]

As a prolific grower of hair, I look forward to being rich when they get this pipeline ironed out.

Presumably using hair irons.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:20 PM on June 17

If "hair" includes body hair, well, I've got a future in graphite substitute.
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:54 PM on June 17

Extremely optimistic fibre artists and crafters and buyers of yarn and fibre tops: rejoice!

(It me)
posted by cendawanita at 3:00 AM on June 18

That is interesting. Especially when thinking of the fact that here in the Netherlands, some people keep sheep as a hobby, and also sheep are kept with the aim of maintaining the moors, as the flocks graze away unwanted vegetation. But apparently no one wants Dutch wool, as it is too coarse and prickly, and it needs too much cleaning before it can be used. So most of it is thrown out.
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:36 PM on June 18