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Printable Batteries Should Arrive Next Year
FullBandwidth writes "Paper-thin batteries that can be printed onto greeting cards or other flexible substrates have been demonstrated at Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems in Germany. The batteries have a relatively short life span, as the anode and cathode materials dissipate over time. However, they contain no hazardous materials."
It'll be interesting to see whether he kills himself doing so or not. Batteries(of any standard chemistry, there might be something exotic out there) in parallel are pretty much harmless to any human who hasn't been flayed and dipped in graphite; but put enough of them together in series and you can get a pretty zesty high voltage DC source(youtube and friends are infested with videos of people playing with large quantities of 9-volts, they conveniently clip together in long chains for the purpose).
Not a huge surprise if you think about it; but anybody who thinks "Batteries = safe, Mains = dangerous" might be in for a surprise if they try on a large enough scale...
Well there's a few differences between the two. Rensselaer's invention was largely based on cellulose whereas the Fraunhofer battery is a matter of zinc and manganese. While the Rensselaer battery actually seemed to be paper (and had the capability to be stacked to produce more power) the Fraunhofer battery seems to be "paper-thin" instead of actual paper. Also, based on the article, I find it unlikely the stacking for additional power output would work.
Further, Rensselaer said they weren't able to figure out a cheap way to mass produce. According to the article, the Fraunhofer battery seems to be fairly cheap already if they're "aiming at a price point under 10 cents per card" instead of a generic "We gotta make it cheaper."
They're similar technologies if all you think of it is "it's a thin battery", but in actuality are nowhere near the same.