Ultra-lightweight "Paper Batteries" Provide High Performance Energy Storage

Stanford University scientists, Stanford, Calif., USA, this week reported they have successfully turned paper coated with ink made of silver and carbon nanomaterials into a "paper battery" that holds promise for new types of lightweight, high-performance energy storage. According to a Reuters news report, the same feature that helps ink adhere to paper allows it to hold onto the single-walled carbon nanotubes and silver nanowire films. Earlier research showed that silicon nanowires could be used to make batteries 10 times as powerful as lithium-ion batteries now used to power devices such as notebook computers.

"Taking advantage of the mature paper technology, low cost, light and high-performance energy-storage are realized by using conductive paper as current collectors and electrodes," the scientists said in research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This type of battery could be useful in powering electric or hybrid vehicles, would make electronics lighter weight and longer lasting, and might even lead someday to paper electronics, scientists said in the Reuters report. Battery weight and life have been an obstacle to commercial viability of electric-powered cars and trucks. The technology could be commercialized within a short time, the report noted.