Is your iPod running out of juice? For a quick charge, why not plug it into a can of soda pop?

While that’s not possible today, in a few years, sugar-powered batteries could replace energy-inefficient lithium ion batteries in everything from computers to mobile devices.

Researchers at St. Louis University, led by Dr. Shelley Minteer, have developed a fuel cell battery that runs on sugar. The research is based on the concept that all living organisms turn sugar into energy.

The batteries supposedly contain enzymes that convert sugars into electricity. They have the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge compared to conventional lithium ion batteries, according to United Press International.

Successful tests were carried out using a range of fuel sources including tree sap and soda pop, though it seems simple table sugar worked the best.

Jonathan M. Gitlin over at Ars Technica says the work was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. “A sugar-powered fuel cell could be used to charge the multitude of electronic gadgets U.S. soldiers take into the battlefield, from night sights to radios,” he writes. “But the technology obviously has even greater potential in the wider consumer electronics market.”