If It Prints, I'll Let You Know

Battery from Ink and Paper Using Nanotechnology!

The limits of science are boundless, and we came across this feature that certainly proved that fact. The feature shares how researchers were able to make batteries out of materials you can find in your office drawer.

Researchers from Stanford University made use of nanotechnology to produce ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and supercapacitors in the form of everyday paper. Ordinary paper was dipped into ink infused with carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires producing a “highly conductive storage device”.

Assistant Professor for Materials Science and Engineering in Stanford University Yi Cui said that there is a need in society for cheap but high-performance energy storage devices, examples of which are batteries and supercapacitors.

The study of Asst. Prof. Cui was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bearing the title “Highly Conductive Paper for Energy Storage Devices”.

The nanomaterials used by Cui are deemed special in that they are structurally one-dimensional and have very small diameters. It is the material’s small diameter that helps the nanomaterial ink to adhere strongly to the fibrous paper; this is what makes the battery and the supercapacitor very durable. The supercapacitor produced out of paper can reportedly last through as much as 40,000 charge-discharge cycles – more than lithium batteries. Nanomaterials, according to Cui, are ideal conductors “because they move electricity along much more efficiently than ordinary conductors.”

Cui has already conducted a similar study on nanomaterial energy storage devices, but that study made use of plastics. The use of paper as a material, though, seems to be more desirable owing to the fact that battery made out of paper is more durable since the ink sticks more strongly to the paper. The paper battery can also be folded, crumpled or soaked in both acidic and basic solutions without degrading the performance. Paper is also deemed as a more flexible material that can be used in a wide variety of applications.