Hemp batteries overpower lithium Batteries and superior to Graphene Supercapcitors
Recent research studies and experiments have shown how hemp batteries overpower Lithium batteries and Graphene supercapacitors. The advantages of Hemp in the use of batteries began in 2013, when scientists discovered how to process raw hemp bast (“hemp bast fiber” or “bast” is the inner bark surrounding the stem) into activated carbons through hydrothermal processing and chemical activation. This experiment paved the way for Hemp to show it’s importance in the use of energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors. These experiments have already shown that batteries made from Hemp fiber are way superior to Lithium batteries as well as graphene supercapacitors
What exactly is Hemp ?
Hemp is a product derived from the Cannabis plant. YES, you read that correctly “Cannabis”! Even though cannabis is largely popular as a plant that has no other users, other than getting people high there are several advantages and uses of the cannabis plant in the fields of medicine and now ready to disrupt the technological sector as well.
Hemp is extracted from the seed or the fibrous part of the Cannabis Sativa family.
In an experiment conducted by Robert Murray Smith on his YouTube channel, demonstrates that the performance of the Hemp cell is significantly better than the Lithium Cell. The Volt by Amps curve obtained for both cells shows a value of 31 for the Hemp cell compared to the Lithium cell which had a very low value of 4. This value clearly indicates how Hemp batteries overpower Lithium batteries and also has the ability to outperform graphene based supercapacitors. Hemp clearly has characteristics way superior to Lithium and Graphene.
How are Hemp batteries and Supercapacitors manufactured
In Many countries including China, Canada and the UK, hemp can be grown industrially for clothing, building materials and other purposes. Once used for the previously mentioned purposes there is a residue of the inner bark of hemp remaining which is normally used as landfill
Dr David Mitlin of Clarkson University, New York and his team used this left over hemp fibres and gave them a new life as supercapacitors. They “cooked” cannabis bark into carbon nanosheets and built supercapacitors “on a par with or better than graphene” – the industry gold standard. They presented their work at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco.

To produce hemp fibres there is a quite a simple process. READ MORE ABOUT HOW HEMP FIBRES CAN BE PRODUCED
Hemp batteries over power Lithium Batteries
- Amp-hour rating of a typical Lithium battery = 70mAh / g
- Amp hour rating of a Hemp battery = 300mAh / g
HEMP HAS 4X THE CAPACITY OF A LITHIUM BATTERY PER KG
How would these above figures affect the battery performance of your daily electronic appliances if they were equipped with Hemp batteries in place of Lithium ?
Considering an Apple IPhone 7 Plus;
Weight of the IPhone 7 Plus battery = 41.1g
Lithium Ion Battery capacity = 70mAh/g x 41.1g = 2877mAh
Hemp Battery capacity = 300mAh/g x 41.1g = 12,330mAh
An experiment conducted at the University of New York found that waste fibers from the hemp plant can be used in the production of supercapacitors as they are a significantly better substitute for graphene. The cost to manufacture supercapacitors using hemp is way cheaper compared to graphene-based supercapacitors.
Hemp supercapacitors and batteries are disrupting the technological market. This has grabbed the attention of Electrical vehicle manufacturers. We hope to see hemp-based products deployed in future electric vehicles.

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