Researchers Spray-Paint Batteries Onto Almost Any Surface 92
Warmlight writes "Rice University researchers have created a type of lithium-ion battery that can be spray-painted onto most surfaces. 'Their batteries, outlined in Scientific Reports (abstract), are made up of five separate layers, each with its own recipe — together measuring just 0.5mm thick. To demonstrate the technique, the team painted batteries onto steel, glass, ceramic tile and even a beer stein.' What do you think this will do for future form-factors? Maybe a form-fitting PipBoy-style device that doesn't weigh 30lbs?"
Re:Hasn't this been done before? (Score:4, Funny)
The team at Rice just finally came out of the room after twenty years to break for lunch outside, and casually mentioned it to a passerby before they went back in.
In another twenty years expect batteries formed from pure thought.
Oh, cmoe one (Score:5, Funny)
There are two very important questions that should have been answered:
1) How much power are the getting from the Beer Stein in the picture.
2) What beer is in the stein.
Re:Hasn't this been done before? (Score:5, Funny)
In another twenty years expect batteries formed from pure thought.
Least reliable power source ever.
Re:Hasn't this been done before? (Score:2, Funny)
Least reliable power source ever.
Oh.. I dunno... Have Slashdot put a story up about malware in Linux and watch the lights get brighter as people spin it as proof of how great OSS really is!
Re:Hasn't this been done before? (Score:5, Funny)
I'd just be happy with a battery that 1/2 to 1/10 of the energy volume density of gasoline
Ever raise kids?
No...how do they compare to gasoline for energy density?
Re:Hasn't this been done before? (Score:3, Funny)
You can graph it, but it looks kind of weird. At newborn stage, the amount of internal energy is somewhat low - not for lack of capacity, just not much charge yet. They charge up in a couple of months though, and AMOUNT of energy remains constant from that point forward. What changes is the form factor.
When the form is small, the energy density is surprisingly high - easily a match for gasoline. (And sometimes might want to take a match to gasoline, but that's a different issue.) Difficult to harness this capacity though. As the form grows larger though, the density drops until it seems there's barely enough to power the form off the bed in the morning.
So... across the lifetime of the container, there's a sharp spike in density early, then relatively smooth (but noticeable) decline until it's no longer useful in powering even a small lawn mower or vacuum cleaner.