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Sony is developing a new type of lithium-ion battery in which the negative
electrodes are made from bamboo. The battery will have almost double the storage
capacity of a standard lithium one. No, you won’t find any thick-stemmed grass
shoots sticking out of your personal stereo because the bamboo is carbonised.
The shoots are baked at 500 °C and then crushed, sieved and rebaked, this
time at 1300 °C, before being moulded with stainless mesh to form the
electrode. Sony has not yet decided whether to commercialise the idea.