Printable Batteries Should Arrive Next Year 92
FullBandwidth writes "Paper-thin batteries that can be printed onto greeting cards or other flexible substrates have been demonstrated at Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems in Germany. The batteries have a relatively short life span, as the anode and cathode materials dissipate over time. However, they contain no hazardous materials."
Re:Imagine a stack of 'em (Score:2, Interesting)
On the plus side, the ability of a 9 volt to deliver high currents isn't all that hot(compared to, say, a microwave transformer) so you'd be less likely to suffer massive damage from thermal effects, unless the lot caught fire. A similarly long chain of lead acid batteries would be substantially nastier in that regard.
Re:Aging and leakage (Score:3, Interesting)
My expectation is that the only way batteries are going to able to really compete with liquid fuels as an energy storage mechanism for vehicles is through some sort of comprehensive and mandatory recycling program. And I'm not just talking about just the actual batteries but rather a complete infrastructure and financing system which makes it difficult and expensive to ignore, opt-out or avoid. Otherwise, the whole thing will be an expensive and short lived boondoggle.
Having said that, I'd love to be able to build a 3D printing machine that could produce batteries and fuel cells.
Did nobody here take chemistry (Score:1, Interesting)
In my high school chemistry class we made paper batteries. We took a single piece of filter paper, and we took an eyedropper and we spilled various chemicals on the filter paper in an "X" pattern. You would then place a piece of metal (depending on your liquid, copper, zinc, lead) and put it on the paper, and figure out what combination of chemicals and metals gave you electricity (as measured by a handy multimeter). The entire thing was soaked with a saline solution so it conducted electricity. The exercise was fairly simple, and well understood. It was also one of the two labs we did in chemistry, which was really depressing because it was the "advanced class" and the loser normal class was making silver coated bottles, tie die shirts, candy, silly putty, and all sorts of things week after week. Stupid normal class with their fun and useful facts.
Anyway, I did this experiment in 2003. The real news story here should be, "New way to use something old." not "New and mind bogglingly challenging concept".
Re:Duration (Score:4, Interesting)
This exists now in the U.S. (Score:3, Interesting)
Infinite Power Solutions [infinitepo...utions.com] is already making a thin-film lithium ion battery that is extremely rechargeable. No need to wait for this technology!