[Omnitir]

Paper batteries, exciting stuff:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
') The nanoengineered battery is lightweight, ultra thin, completely flexible, and geared toward meeting the trickiest design and energy requirements of tomorrow’s gadgets, implantable medical equipment, and transportation vehicles.
...
Along with use in small handheld electronics, the paper batteries’ light weight could make them ideal for use in automobiles, aircraft, and even boats. The paper also could be molded into different shapes, such as a car door, which would enable important new engineering innovations.
...
The device can be rolled, twisted, folded, or cut into any number of shapes with no loss of mechanical integrity or efficiency. The paper batteries can also be stacked, like a ream of printer paper, to boost the total power output.
...
“Plus, because of the high paper content and lack of toxic chemicals, it’s environmentally safe,” Shaijumon said.
...
The materials required to create the paper batteries are inexpensive, Murugesan said, but the team has not yet developed a way to inexpensively mass produce the devices. The end goal is to print the paper using a roll-to-roll system similar to how newspapers are printed.

“When we get this technology down, we’ll basically have the ability to print batteries and print supercapacitors,” Ajayan said. “We see this as a technology that’s just right for the current energy market, as well as the electronics industry, which is always looking for smaller, lighter power sources. Our device could make its way into any number of different applications.”

[FireJack]

Im interested when their being sold on the market and independant people are using and reviewing them. These promising technologies rarely see the light of day.

[Omnitir]

The details of the project have been published for peer review in the paper “Flexible Energy Storage Devices Based on Nanocomposite Paper”, published Aug. 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have also filed a patent for this invention.

So clearly it's for real, regardless of the fact that it was only published two days ago and of course won't be available for consumers for many years.


Surely there will be a market for a paperweight (literally), environmentally friendly, battery/super capacitor hybrid technology in the coming years? Surely this will see the light of day?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FireJack', 'T')hese promising technologies rarely see the light of day.

[Omnitir]

Not even close

Rocket cars have been around for decades:







Unless you are talking about some rocket car that someone developed that was clean, quiet, efficient, and cheap? I've never heard of such a thing.



I just don't get it. People keep saying things like "all these breakthroughs never see the light of day" - but what exactly are they talking about? I would honestly like to know.

I'm not talking about the promise of a new technology one day being adopted on scale (like "one day we'll have jetpacks and flying cars"), I mean a real technology that has actually been developed - like this nanocomposite paper stuff - but after sufficient time to come to market, just kind of disappeared.

Is there actually any evidence that breakthroughs never amount to anything? Or is this just standard techno-pessimism?

[SILENTTODD]

After Gold (and some Silver Bulion) .

Invest only in acid free papwer , or Hemp paper (the same think)

Beware!

Invest in Acid Free paper only!!

[TheDude]

Rocket cars haven't exactly "come to market." At least I haven't seen them on the freeway yet. We all know the reasons for that. Neither have ICE powered cars with the kind of mileage we know they could be getting. Same deal.

A more apt example would be the visiphone, or whatever you want to call it. Can't find the historic name - telephone with TV attached. The tech has been there for a long time but it never caught on for whatever reason - unwillingness to invest in infrastructure? We are seeing the equivalent catching on these days with wireless conferencing or whatever it's called. No one was willing to have it installed in every home back in the day, though.

These paper batteries are intriguing, though. If carbon nanotubes ever become affordable I wonder how they'll rank against conventional batteries.

[Omnitir]

Yeah, that's a good point. It's all well and good to be able to build a light weight EV that stores power in its body with paper batteries, but it's pointless if the only people that can afford them are the sort of people that don't need to worry about fuel costs in the first place.


And rocket cars have indeed "come to market", you just can't use them on the streets. If you wanted to though, you could build one and find somewhere to race it.

Same with video phones - if you want it, you can have it.

The issue isn't if people have it or not, the issue is if it's possible. Saying "nice breakthrough but it will never see the light of day, just like most breakthroughs" is implying that technological breakthroughs don't ever mount to anything. Sure they do, they just aren't always desired by the majority, or allowed by the politicians. That's a completely different thing to being prohibitive through science/technology.

And I would argue that something like a revolutionary new battery technology with notable applications for EV's is not going to be the kind of thing that doesn't find it's way to market. Especially given what we know of our energy future.

[Omnitir]

Dude, I like your sig. But to expand on it;
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', '
')These paper batteries are intriguing, though. If carbon nanotubes ever become affordable I wonder how they'll rank against conventional batteries.

[xrotaryguy]

There was actually a version of the Bat Mobile that had a working rocket in it. I think the car carried about 13 seconds of fuel... or something like that.

This will be fantastic if it pans out. This could cause electric cars to be lighter and could mean that their batteries would take up less space. Or well... that their batteries could be integrated into the car. Super cool!

Of course, we need to have energy in the first place if the batteries are to be used for anything. Has there been a post on here about the viability of an all-renewable infrastructure? I mean, a positive one.

One thing that seems a little presumptious is the "environmentally friendly" statement. Nano tech is so new that we don't know what or how bad its ill effects might be.

[lper100km]

I wouldn't expect much more than millivolts and micro amps from such materials. Paper is liable to, well, burn, when in a high energy environment. At the least it would dry out, become brittle in even continuous slight warmth. Protection from humidity variation is difficult. Are they really using paper as in wood or vegetable fibre sourced??:doubt:

[keehah]

So current paper based batteries are made with printing equipment coating treated paper or foils. While most are rolled up into the normal round tube type batteries there is no reasons existing batteries cannot have such different shapes.

So this new improved battery uses F-ing expensive nano-fibres instead of paper or metal foil. So it costs a lot more.

Oh but the batteries can be much smaller. For the additional cost of nano-tubes I don't expect this improvement will be used to power one's car or household tools. Nor does it claim to be.

[keehah]

So current paper based batteries are made with printing equipment coating treated paper or foils. While most are rolled up into the normal round tube type batteries there is no reasons existing batteries cannot have such different shapes.

So this new improved battery uses F-ing expensive nano-fibres instead of paper or metal foil. So it costs a lot more.

Oh but the batteries can be much smaller. For the additional cost of nano-tubes I don't expect this improvement will be used to power one's car or household tools. Nor does it claim to be.

[xrotaryguy]

Actually, the article states that this technology is ideal for cars and boats. I didn't see it say anything about tools though.

[Omnitir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'I') was kidding about rocket cars. I make fun of everything omintir talks about because he is a dweeby techtopian with absolutely no clue regarding the real (as opposed to virtual) dirty, corrupt, dead-end industrial world we built and currently inhabit.

[dooberheim]

From:

http://www.energybulletin.net/33869.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')long with its ability to function in temperatures up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and down to 100 below zero, the device is completely integrated and can be printed like paper. The device is also unique in that it can function as both a high-energy battery and a high-power supercapacitor, which are generally separate components in most electrical systems. Another key feature is the capability to use human blood or sweat to help power the battery.