Saudi Arabia to launch potato-powered battery

A Saudi Arabian researcher is exploring the possibility of developing potato-powered batteries that could be commercially available as early as next year.

Professor of Physics at King Abdulaziz University, Suliman Abdalla, has developed an efficient potato cell, taking cues from a research paper published by American and Israeli scientists in 2010.

The paper showed the benefits of using potato-powered batteries in the rural areas.

Abdalla is currently developing a prototype that is more efficient than a 1.5 V battery and could supply environment-friendly energy to millions of people.

According to The Saudi Gazette, Abdalla experimented with a variety of vegetables to find out which produced the most efficient charge. He found that potatoes and garlic are most possible and that an 18mm slice of potato produced the most electrical power.