Carbon Nanotubes Turn Office Paper into Batteries

Beyond cover sheets and TPS reports–white copy paper could be the basis for lightweight, inexpensive batteries















Share on Tumblr

Nanotechnologist Maria Strømme of Uppsala University in Sweden and her colleagues have also devised batteries with a paper made from seaweed. Because such paper had 100 times more surface area than that made from wood, it can hold dramatically more power, they reported in the October 14 Nano Letters.

One concern about the new sheets is their electrical resistances, which are some 10 times or more than those of the metal foils used as current collectors in conventional batteries. Such resistance slows the delivery of power. Cui suggests incorporating metal nanowires into their devices to lower resistance, thereby helping provide more electrical oomph.

Another major obstacle to implementing these findings is the current high price of carbon nanotubes. "However, carbon nanotube price will continuously drop as production ramps up," Cui notes. "The conductive paper concept can also be realized with other nanomaterials with potentially low cost, such as graphene."

 



4 Comments

Add Comment
View
  1. 1. rlb2 10:53 PM 12/7/09

    This may be the start of something big, hopefully we can follow the development of this novel idea. I remember when thin film solar, thin-film photovoltaic cell (TFPV), just came out with a novel idea -- printing them.

    "The silicon is mainly deposited by chemical vapor deposition, typically plasma-enhanced (PE-CVD), from silane gas and hydrogen gas. Other deposition techniques being investigated include sputtering and hot wire techniques.

    The silicon is deposited on glass, plastic or metal which has been coated with a layer of transparent conducting oxide (TCO).

    High speed roll-to-roll printing of polymer solar cells may potentially produce as many square meters of solar cells in an hour as a crystalline Silicon solar cell plant produces a year."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_film_solar_cell

    I'm sure there will be other methods to deposit carbon nanotubes for efficient electrical storage devices but this is just the beginning...

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  2. 2. Katie Sams 12:02 PM 12/22/09

    wouldn't making batteries out of paper be wasteing trees?

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  3. 3. rolandorg519 06:29 AM 5/13/10

    Paper can be made from many kinds of grass, including the original form, made by the ancient Egyptians from papyrus weeds. It can even be made from pond scum algae and/or grass clippings, garbage waste or recycled materials.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  4. 4. vinest1919 in reply to Katie Sams 05:38 AM 8/17/11

    If you want to create a smooth consistent coating on any substrate, you might consider screen printing. The thickness of the coating can be controlled from a few microns up to several layers to increase thickness.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Leave this field empty

Add a Comment

You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmerican.com member to submit a comment.
Click one of the buttons below to register using an existing Social Account.

More from Scientific American

See what we're tweeting about

Scientific American Editors

More »

Free Newsletters


Get the best from Scientific American in your inbox

Solve Innovation Challenges

Powered By: Innocentive

  SA Digital

Latest from SA Blog Network

  SA Digital

News From Our Partners

Science Jobs of the Week

Email this Article

Carbon Nanotubes Turn Office Paper into Batteries

X
Scientific American Magazine

Subscribe Today

Save 66% off the cover price and get a free gift!

Learn More >>

X

Please Log In

Forgot: Password

X

Account Linking

Welcome, . Do you have an existing ScientificAmerican.com account?

Yes, please link my existing account with for quick, secure access.



Forgot Password?

No, I would like to create a new account with my profile information.

Create Account
X

Report Abuse

Are you sure?

X

Institutional Access

It has been identified that the institution you are trying to access this article from has institutional site license access to Scientific American on nature.com. To access this article in its entirety through site license access, click below.

Site license access
X

Error

X

Share this Article

X