Scientists say the world’s smelliest fruit could boost energy storage.

A University of Sydney researcher has developed a new method to turn durian waste into super-capacitors that he says could “substantially reduce” the cost of energy storage and charge devices very quickly.

“Using durian and jackfruit purchased from a market, we converted the fruits’ waste portions (biomass) into super-capacitors that can be used to store electricity efficiently,” said Associate Professor Vincent Gomes.

“Using a non-toxic and non-hazardous green engineering method that used heating in water and freeze drying of the fruit’s biomass, the durian and jackfruit were transformed into stable carbon aerogels — an extremely light and porous synthetic material used for a range of applications.

“Carbon aerogels make great super-capacitors because they are highly porous.  We then used the fruit-derived aerogels to make electrodes which we tested for their energy storage properties, which we found to be exceptional.”

The team want to use the technique to develop super-capacitors - energy reservoirs that can dole out energy smoothly, storing large amounts of energy discharging it to electronic devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops, within a few seconds.

 “Compared to batteries, super-capacitors are not only able to charge devices very quickly but also in orders of magnitude greater charging cycles than conventional devices,” A/Prof Gomes said.

“Current super-capacitors are made from activated carbon which are nowhere near as efficient as the ones prepared during this project.”

In tests so far, durian and jack-fruit super-capacitors performed much better than the materials currently in use and are comparable, if not better, than the expensive and exotic graphene-based materials.

“Durian waste, as a zero-cost substance that the community wants to get rid of urgently due to its repulsive, nauseous smell, is a sustainable source that can transform the waste into a product to substantially reduce the cost of energy storage through our chemical-free, green synthesis protocol,” he said.