Technique could turn any surface into a lithium-ion battery; may be combined with solar cells

Researchers at Rice University have developed a lithium-ion battery that can be painted on virtually any surface.

The rechargeable battery created in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan consists of spray-painted layers, each representing the components in a traditional battery. The research appears in Nature’s online, open-access journal Scientific Reports.

“This means traditional packaging for batteries has given way to a much more flexible approach that allows all kinds of new design and integration possibilities for storage devices,” said Ajayan, Rice’s Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry. “There has been lot of interest in recent times in creating power sources with an improved form factor, and this is a big step forward in that direction.”

More – http://news.rice.edu/2012/06/28/rice-researchers-develop-paintable-battery-2/

Interesting.

Rice university ?..

Where it’s always sunrise?

Hmm.
Cool, but…
What’s the advantage?

dv said:

Hmm.
Cool, but…
What’s the advantage?

Street lights will be able to be powered by graffiti.

> The rechargeable battery created in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan consists of spray-painted layers, each representing the components in a traditional battery.

Looks good, particularly if you want a battery that operates at very high voltage and low current. But just one point of warning. Spray painting is done by droplets hitting a surface at random, which makes the thickness of the electrodes a random function of position. That limits how thin the electrodes can be without developing pinhole flaws.

Did anyone read the comments? WTF?

morrie said:

Did anyone read the comments? WTF?

It is probably a good thing that comments were closed then.