Originally published August 14, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified August 14, 2007 at 8:42 AM
Rolling out a new kind of battery
It's a battery that looks like a piece of paper and can be bent or twisted, trimmed with scissors or molded into any shape needed. While the battery is...
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — It's a battery that looks like a piece of paper and can be bent or twisted, trimmed with scissors or molded into any shape needed.
While the battery is only a prototype a few inches square right now, the researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) who developed it have high hopes for it in electronics and other fields that need smaller, lighter power sources.
"We would like to scale this up to the point where you can imagine printing batteries like a newspaper. That would be the ultimate," said Robert Linhardt a professor at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at RPI.
The development is reported in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Unlike other batteries, Linhardt explained, it is an integrated device, not a combination of pieces.
The battery uses paper infused with an electrolyte and carbon nanotubes that are embedded in the paper. The carbon nanotubes form the electrodes, the paper is the separator and the electrolyte allows the current to flow.
Students at the school in Troy, N.Y., were the inspiration for the work, said Linhardt, whose students were working on methods to dissolve paper and cast it into membranes for use in dialysis machines.
Meanwhile, students of Pulickel Ajayan in RPI's materials science department were trying to make carbon nanotube composites using polymers.
The two groups got together and realized they could use paper instead of polymers and combine the two projects.
Then came Omkaram Nalamasu's students, also at RPI, who said the project — a thin sheet black on one side and white on the other — looked like an electrical device.
And over about 18 months, the groups developed the projects, into a battery, a capacitor, which stores electricity and a combination of the two.
Ajayan sees potential uses in combination with solar cells, perhaps layers of the paper batteries that could store the electricity generated until it is needed, he said.
![]()
That might be an expensive proposition, however, cautioned Peter Kofinas, an engineering professor at the University of Maryland.
"The advantage of a flexible device would be that you could roll it in a film or a sheet. However, carbon nanotubes are very expensive," said Kofinas, who was not involved in the research.
"So from the commercial standpoint, this would be very expensive if you want to make a large sheet out of this material," he said. In addition, he said, "It does not look like it performs better than currently available batteries and supercapacitors in the market."
Because of its flexibility, however, it does have potential, Kofinas said.
The research was funded by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research and the National Science Foundation.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Nintendo re-enlists Mario, savior of video-game industry
Verizon-Frontier deal stirs concern among consumers
Brier Dudley: 'Guitar Hero' founder excited about future
Gaps for consumers in Democrat health care bills
Hutch gets $10M from Bezos family for immunotherapy research

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.
general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Sporting goods
just listed
42" Hitachi Plasma 1080i - $500
8 Drawer Dresser with Attached Mirror - $200
8 seat pecon formal dining table and china hutch - $1500
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
shopping
Give yourself a treat and visit Watson Kennedy's Holiday Open Houses
More minding the store
events for Monday, Nov. 23
- Castle Discount with Military ID
- CraftsGiving
- Alhambra 20 Percent Off Jewelry Sale
- Dish It Up! Totally Truffles
editors' picks
- Phinney Ridge & Greenwood shopping
- Independent video stores
- Pioneer Square shopping
- Garden furnishings
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
374 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
210 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
171 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
156 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
98 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
95 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
83 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
82 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
74 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
66
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit




