Nanotech Ink Turns Paper Into a Low-Cost Battery

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Nanotech Ink Turns Paper Into a Low-Cost Battery

Posted by kdawson on Saturday December 12, 2009 @07:26AM from the power-your-wallet dept.

jangel writes "Stanford University researchers have demonstrated a way to turn ordinary paper into a battery, which may be crumpled or pressed into any form. It's said the technology promises greater durability, higher efficiency, and faster energy transfer than traditional batteries. The technique uses special ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. Thanks to the small diameters of these materials, the ink sticks strongly to the fibrous paper, allowing the battery to be extremely durable. The paper battery could last through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles — at least an order of magnitude more than lithium batteries. According to the researchers, the paper batteries will be low-cost, may be crumpled or folded, and can even be soaked in acidic or basic solutions, yet their performance does not degrade. 'We just haven't tested what happens when you burn it,' one of the researchers quipped." This is the same Stanford research team, lead by Yi Cui, whose work with nanotechnology for battery applications we have discussed before. We've also delved into alternate routes to the holy grail of the ultra-thin battery.

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Nice, but... by Ralph+Spoilsport · 2009-12-12 07:31 · Score: 4, Interesting

What's the power density? If you need a dozen phonebooks worth of paper to store 100wH, never mind...
What's the ink made of? Oil? If so: never mind.
How fast an you charge it without it bursting into flames?
If it can charge faster and has equal power density to LiON batteries, and the ink isn't made out of oil, and the entire thing can be built outside of a petroleum context, I think we might have a winner...
RS

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Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
1. Re:Nice, but... by Eternauta3k · 2009-12-12 08:24 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  What's the ink made of? Oil?
  Baby seals
  
  --
  Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
2. Re:Nice, but... by amRadioHed · 2009-12-12 08:40 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The story isn't entirely clear, but it does say "the technique uses special ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires". Based on that I would guess the ink may be made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires.
  
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  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
3. Re:Nice, but... by Goldsmith · 2009-12-12 10:15 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Ok, now you're just making stuff up.
  Who makes nanotubes out of petroleum? I've worked with carbon nanotubes for almost a decade and never heard of anyone seriously doing that. Sure, you can make them from whatever carbon you want, but it's easiest to make them from ethanol. Are we going to char the forests to get that? If you can generate ethanol economically from forests, then you need to tell someone. Is the electricity used to make the nanotubes from petroleum? Maybe, maybe not. The nice thing about electricity is that it doesn't matter how you make it, it works the same. So you can hook Slashdot commenters up to giant hampster wheels to drive your generators if you need to.
  The kids doing this research probably come from farms in rural China, are paid probably 1/3 of what you make and are treated like shit (no probably about that). Yet they're at least trying to solve the big problems in the world. To them, you are Joe Palooka... but for some reason they think the world is worth saving.
4. Re:Nice, but... by cathector · 2009-12-12 10:47 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  your link to silverseek may have some relevant info, but it also has "sentences" like this:
  Just as gold miners have cast their geologists to the wind and pretty much eliminated their support structures to find and develop new properties, so haven't the copper miners. Now "they're" worried about a supply 'pinch' in 2006.
5. Re:Nice, but... by Arthur+Grumbine · 2009-12-12 10:50 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  What's the ink made of? Oil?
  Baby seals
  Which are a proven renewable resource!
  
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  Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
6. Re:Nice, but... by CarpetShark · 2009-12-12 13:19 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  How fast an you charge it without it bursting into flames?
  With a spear, or on horseback?
7. Re:Nice, but... by DMUTPeregrine · 2009-12-12 19:14 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Warranty void if seal is broken.
  
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  Not a sentence!
similar principle by wizardforce · 2009-12-12 07:32 · Score: 4, Interesting

These paper based batteries appear to function in a very similar fashion to the algae derived cellulose batteries mentioned on Slashdot a while ago. The paper probably acts as a support just as the algae cellulose particles did in the previously mentioned design.

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Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
Cost of silver by BlueParrot · 2009-12-12 07:43 · Score: 3, Interesting

How much silver is actually sued in these batteries? Will availability be an issue? Does it work with other conductive materials like copper or aluminum? Intuitively I suspect the problem here will be energy density for the simple reason it is the one thing they did not promise would be awesome. That said with the tesla beating 500km recently these batteries coudl eprform well even if they had half of Li-Ion energy density.
1. Re:Cost of silver by whowantscream · 2009-12-12 08:35 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  How much silver is actually sued in these batteries?
  IANAL, but I can't imagine what case one could bring against the silver in those batteries...
  
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  Nobody? OK no cream.
fancy ink by trb · 2009-12-12 07:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Ink made out of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires? That will be almost as expensive as inkjet ink.
1. Re:fancy ink by wizardforce · 2009-12-12 08:03 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  At roughly 2,000$/liter inkjet ink is actually within an order of magnitude (25$/g) of the cost of pure carbon nanotubes. Given the rate at which the cost of nanotubes has been falling over the years and the fact that this ink probably won't be more than ~10-20% nanotubes by volume (my guess) it would be certainly possible that mass scale production could bring the cost down well below that of printer ink. Sad isn't it?
  
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  Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
2. Re:fancy ink by Anonymous Coward · 2009-12-12 08:18 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You're mixing up "cost" with "price".
  The "cost" to manufacture and distribute printer ink and printer cartridges is very low. It's the artificially-high "price" of printer cartridges for consumers that's the problem.
  If most consumers today weren't so stupid and just stopped buying printer ink at the current prices, it'd drop in price quite quickly. Even at just 25% of the current price, the manufacturers would still be making huge profit margins.
3. Re:fancy ink by causality · 2009-12-12 08:52 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  You're mixing up "cost" with "price".
  The "cost" to manufacture and distribute printer ink and printer cartridges is very low. It's the artificially-high "price" of printer cartridges for consumers that's the problem.
  If most consumers today weren't so stupid and just stopped buying printer ink at the current prices, it'd drop in price quite quickly. Even at just 25% of the current price, the manufacturers would still be making huge profit margins.
  The ink-jet printers are sold at a very low price, one that is not very profitable (if at all) for the manufacturer in isolation. It's not in isolation, however, because they make that money back by selling the consumable ink at a high mark-up. Effectively, the customer is paying a lower price up-front in exchange for an overall higher price over time. The printer companies are counting on the customer to be enticed by the initial low price without considering the overall deal, which would require some thought. Like many companies that assume the thoughtlessness of their customers, this has worked out well for them, unfortunately.
  
  The same principle is in effect for many car loans. I often see car commercials that advertise a vehicle but either do not specify the total price or the total price is de-emphasized. What is emphasized is the monthly payment, and usually for a 60-month loan. A car loan with such a long duration is a great way to end up upside-down on the vehicle (owe more money than it is worth). It also means that the total price you pay for the vehicle is significantly higher than either the list price or a loan with a more reasonable duration. But people who don't consider these things see a low monthly payment and make their decision on this basis alone.
  
  In both cases, the customer gets somewhat screwed just so they can have their shiny right now. Neither arrangement would appeal to a more financially conscious, savvy customer. Generally the "gotta have it right now" crowd experiences a short-term gain of convenience and a long-term loss of money. It's one reason why the USA has a negative savings index and is generally a culture of debt. Because of this behavior, most car dealerships make a modest profit from selling the vehicles and a large profit from financing them.
  
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  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Re:What's the energy density? by jd2112 · 2009-12-12 07:47 · Score: 5, Funny

I hope I don't have to carry around a copy of "War and Peace" just to power my phone.
No, but it will power your Kindle.

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Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Re:What's the energy density? by BlueParrot · 2009-12-12 07:51 · Score: 3, Informative

According to the abstract it is 30-47 Wh/kg as compared to 160 Wh/kg for Li-ion. So it is a factor 3 short of Li-Ion. Still not bad for such a new tech. With some optimizations it might actually stand a chance to replace Li-Ion.
Re:Burning by WGFCrafty · 2009-12-12 07:53 · Score: 3, Funny

Self lighting joints which read out how many drags you have left on a little e-ink burnable screen!

Made completely of cellulose! (and carbon nano-tubes)
Re:What's the energy density? by sentientbeing · 2009-12-12 08:03 · Score: 5, Funny

No duh. You carry around a jpg of the battery on your phone. When your battery is about to die, you go to a network printer, print off the jpg and replace the new battery.

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beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
With thinking like that, we'd never get anywhere. by Vellmont · 2009-12-12 08:16 · Score: 4, Insightful

What's the power density? If you need a dozen phonebooks worth of paper to store 100wH, never mind...

To power a car, sure. If space is ample, or energy requirements are minimal, then this could be very useful.

What's the ink made of? Oil? If so: never mind.

Where does this come from? If you think we're going to eliminate oil derived products anytime soon, think again. Oil isn't going away as a feedstock for the chemical industry. If your requirement is that nothing is ever tied to petroleum, just give up now. You won't get very far.

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AccountKiller
Ultra-thin battery already commercially available by dtmos · 2009-12-12 08:32 · Score: 4, Informative

Keep in mind that ultra-thin, printed, "paper" batteries (usually printed on cellulose, or a thin polymer film for added mechanical strength, although paper itself can be done) have been commercially available for a decade -- see Power Paper and Blue Spark Technologies as just two examples.
Re:What's the energy density? by ickleberry · 2009-12-12 08:44 · Score: 4, Informative

Its about the same as lead-acid

It's good enough to power short-medium range electric cars without the short lifetime of lead acid batteries.
Just Wow! by Linker3000 · 2009-12-12 10:52 · Score: 5, Funny

If you tie a length of this paper into a Möbius strip, do you get an infinite power source - or just AC?

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AT&ROFLMAO
Re:Nice but... by mhajicek · 2009-12-13 07:26 · Score: 3, Funny

You could have a battery on a credit card, and call it your "Charge Card".