Converting human hair to a potential building block for batteries

Research led by Dr Amandeep Singh from Charles Sturt’s Rural Health Research Institute is developing novel methods for converting waste products, such as human hair, into cost-effective ingredients for battery manufacturing, offering potential to aid the clean energy revolution. Natural graphite, a key component in energy storage batteries, has a limited and geographically restricted supply, making alternatives highly desirable.

Dr Singh’s unique chemical reactor design, which used shock wave technology, has successfully converted human hair into graphite at low temperatures. The advantages of this technology include its ability to provide a cost-effective, locally sourced raw material independently of disruptions in the global supply chain, and its lower environmental impact compared to conventional processes used in the manufacture and purification of graphite.