CT-Based Bio-Solid-State Battery

The ability of vitamin A acetate to form charge-transfer (CT)-complexes in the solid state with electron acceptors has been exploited for the direct conversion if chemical energy into electrical energy. The electrochemical cell devised for this purpose has the configuration zinc/CT complex/Pt or graphite. An open-circuit voltage of 1.08 V and short-circuit current densities of up to 5 mA/cm 2 were found at room temperature. The current-voltage and discharge characteristics gave a maximum power density of 4.0 W/kg and a useful energy density of 17 W·h/kg, respectively. The battery was found to be useful in operating various low-power-consuming electronic circuits.