New Paper Batteries and Supercapacitors Created Using Nanotechnology
23 February 2010 | Green Technology | 1 Comment
Nanotechnology represents all those technologies which are useful in building complex structures and which take into account many specifications at an atomic level, using mechanical synthesis. In other words, nanotechnology deals with the properties of nanoscale structures. Until now all new inventions based on nanotechnology have far exceeded the efficiency of old products and I think the same will happen with the invention of Stanford engineer Yi Cui. He managed to create some lightweight paper batteries and supercapacitors by dipping ordinary fabric or paper in a special ink infused with nanoparticles.
Like stretchable textiles known as “eTextiles“, this new obtained material is capable of storing energy while maintaining the mechanical properties of ordinary fabric or paper. Yi Cui has already envisioned a lot of uses for these new batteries and the most interesting are: “Our future homes could be decorated with energy-storing wallpaper” or “We will be able to recharge our portable gadgets by connecting them to our T-shirts“. These wearable energy textiles could also be used in sports or in the army. As I said before, these nanoscale structures (not visible to the human eye and with the ability to transport electricity) are made from two types of materials according to the intended function of the product. For batteries, Cui’s team used lithium cobalt oxide (a common compound used for batteries) and for supercapacitors they used SWNTs (single-walled carbon nanotubes).
“This is the right time to really see what we learn from nanoscience and do practical applications that are extremely promising…The beauty of this is, it combines the lowest cost technology that you can find to the highest tech nanotechnology to produce something great. I think this is a very exciting idea…a huge impact for society!”, said Yi Cui.
Tags: complex nanoscale structures, energy-storing wallpaper, eTextiles, lightweight paper batteries, lithium cobalt oxide, mechanical synthesis, nanoparticles, Nanotechnology, Paper Batteries, single-walled carbon nanotubes, Supercapacitors, SWNT, wearable energy textiles, yi cui paper batteries
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