The Bendable Paper Battery

A new bendable paper battery may revolutionize how we power our electric and electronic devices. It may not exactly be the coconut battery used to inform the inhabitants of Gilligan's island of impending hurricanes, but the paper battery can be trimmed, cut, rolled and probably made to fit the appropriate size needed. While the device is still in the experimental stage the device designers have hope for it. Ideally, they would like to see the batteries rolled off of printing presses someday like newspapers are today.

The battery is the result of the efforts of two groups of students working at RPI, a school in Troy, New York. One group was working on ways to dissolve paper for use in kidney dialysis machines while another group of students at the same school were working on a way to make carbon nanotube composites using polymers. Eventually. the two groups combined their efforts after the group working on nanotube composites realized they could use paper instead.

Even though they had made progress on their intended efforts, the idea for the battery had not yet been born yet. A third group of students at RPI taught by Omkaram Nalamasu noticed that what would become the paper battery tjhat was black on one side and white on the other looked like an electrical device.

The device may hold promise for potential use in solar cells, but consumers should not expect to see it on the market any time in the near future. The cost of manufacturing carbon nanotubes makes it prohibitively expensive. According to Peter Kofinas, who teaches engineering students at the University of Maryland, the device does not perform better than the standard batteries you would find at your local Wal-Mart. The benefits of the new device if the cost can be brought down to where consumers could purchase them is that be shaped, bent and rolled. It may even be possible to sew the batteries into clothing.

While it might be neat to cut and roll a battery into the size we need for a flashlight, it may be a long while before we see it yet. At least from the environmental standpoint the device does not contain any harmful metals or acids of the kind used in standard batteries today. And one advantage should the device become commercially vialbe is that it is in fact, rechargeable. For now, it is probably best to keep those AAA, AA, C, D and 9 Volt batteries around.

Sources:

http://www.devlib.org/blog/2005/12/09/paper-battery-from-nec/

"Bendable Battery Made from Paper." Randolp E. Smid. The Daily Item. Tuesay, August 14, 2007. Sunbury, Pennsylvaia