PlasticBattery
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Brown U. is building better batteries with plastic
Too bad they're not building 'em with "butter" or "barometers" -- the alliteration potential is just so vast! All the same, plastic seems to be just what your iPod ordered, combining the storage ability of a traditional battery, with the intense power capabilities of capacitors. We didn't pay attention well enough in our science classes to know what it means to "Put electroactive molecules into conducting polymers," but the results of the experiments being conducted on conductive plastics by a few Brown University engineers speak for themselves. The new batteries are as thin as an overhead transparency, smaller than an iPod nano in height and width, and yet manage double the storage of a traditional battery, and 100 times the power of a standard alkaline battery. The plastic battery can deliver or receive its charge rapidly like a capacitor, yet can also hold a charge and deliver power slowly like a battery, meaning all sorts of good times for power junkies like us. Right now there are still a few kinks to work out before the technology is ready for the market, but we'll be keeping an eye on this one for sure.[Via Slashdot]
