Stanford wants to roll its own paper batteries
By Vlad Savov 
posted December 9th 2009 5:29AM
posted December 9th 2009 5:29AM
posted December 9th 2009 5:29AM
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Why?
@EGamerHDK
So I can have an electric doobie of course. Thanks science.
@EGamerHDK Imagine a phone with paper battery on it. That's why.
@EGamerHDK apparently some people can't take a freakin joke. Of course paper freakin batteries would be useful. At least I didn't go. First!
So wait is it an capacitor or a battery? That guy is not too good at speaking english and I'm not sure now.
It seems to be a capacitor. The nanotubes automatically attach to the paper and after some baking you have a big surface area on a very thin sheet, this is an ideal capacitor since you can roll it up to increase capacitance. What he doesn't mention is the production of nano tubes which happens in million dollar labs and is years away from becoming mass produced easily.
You know that is how capacitors were made originally, rolled up paper and tin foil inbetween, I remember unrolling one of those old ones years ago, then later they made them from a kind 'foam' because that gives high surface area in a small space and was cheap to make.
They probably still make the rolled ones.
Incidentally, oil-soaked paper is still one of the best insulators ever.
@Wwhat The cyclindrical elecrolytic ones are made from rolled up sheets. There's a Make: video about them in which they are disected.
@(Unverified) Damn scientists! Always working on stuff that won't be available next week. Bastards!
Will the nano tubes heat up when it discharges electricity (perhaps under heavy use)? Coz paper burns...
looks cool though!
@R Nair Didn't he put the paper in an oven...?
A precisely temperature controlled oven, that perhaps didn't get hotter than 122F/50C or something.
But you can prep paper to be fire-resistant, and if it's contained in an airtight container it can't burn without oxygen and would just carbonize, and you could put in a simple mechanical temperature shunt
@R Nair my coworker's wife is on this research team.
wohoo! The battery industry is catching up!
If it's 'normal copy paper' and highly conductive carbon nanotubes perhaps they can make a printer or copier that uses the stuff and print circuits or devices, especially if you print two sides of the paper.
But as an unverified commenter just said, if the nanostuff is too expensive to make it's all moot.
why is my school not doing that kind of cool stuff????
@DeviantmacG Probably the same reason mine isn't; it's more interested in overcharging students and using the money to pay for unneccesary new building projects and to improve the president's home's decor.
@DeviantmacG I bet your schoolmate are doing these paper rolling thing at the school's parking lot. Except, they fill it in with different ingredients.
@tommy2468
Engadget you need to add Facebook Share things to comments lolololol
@DeviantmacG because you're not going to Stanford.
@DeviantmacG Because you and your schoolmates waste too much time on the internet?
@RobotAnswerMachine
Because i'm a MBA student, and i'm gonna rule the world and those paper things soon haha xD
This tech needs to find its way into cell phones, NOW! Thank you.
His teeth, this video should have not been in HD
A couple of things.
That was an Ohm meter in the video, so measuring resistance and not power. A pencil woudl give a reading.
Did you see the size of the silver cell thing they needed to barely light the led.
Sounds promising as a concept, but I exepct there is a long way to go before it's practical for powering real world devices.
This "news" is ancient. When are they ever going to start printing batteries?
Composites! Imagine many layers of this material, bonded by epoxy, and molded into door panels, even frame elements! Photovoltaics integrated onto the outer layer even.
Imagine the possibilities of structural components which are themselves batteries.
I can see it now.
"Oh dang, my house has lost the ability to hold a charge. Guess I should just throw it away and buy a new one."
They're batteries. This is the professor who also came up with the silicon nanowire batteries we heard about a year or so ago. He's just replacing the metal and metal oxide electrodes with carbon nanotube infused paper. Carbon nanotubes are extremely good conductors, and paper is a highly porous structure on which to get them stuck.
Now that said, you could also probably use these in capacitors, though if you want them to have high energy storage you'd have to come up with more technology to go with it. I don't know how you would make the electrolytic double layer structure with nanotube electrodes. Otherwise you would end up with a normal (not ultra capacity) capacitor and nothing terribly interesting to publish.
Seems to me that the nanotubes are just a much lighter (perhaps more compact) conductor than the metal typically used in batteries and other devices.
Stanford is very good at rolling things. You gotta love NorCal!
Brings new meaning to "roll it up, light it up".
so they get paid to do this?