Paper batteries

One of the biggest things holding back electronic technology is battery technology but the pressure is on and new ideas are starting to emerge. The latest of these uses normal copier paper coated with an "ink" made from tiny carbon nano tubes and silver nano wires. The fibre in the paper acts as a skeleton on which to hold the nano carbon and it is then soaked in ionic liquid electrolytes, such as a lithium solution. Stanford University scientists have demonstrated a postage stamp sized battery with enough power to light a small bulb. The exciting thing is the possibility for cheap and fairly light batteries that could be produced by using a convention printing press, which is a fairly low-tech solution compared to most other emerging cell technologies. With pressure from the makers of laptop computers and mobile phones plus the hybrid car market the future looks bright for the scientist behind this idea. Other ideas are being investigated such as using cloth instead of paper and a version that uses blood as the electrolyte, which could power things like pace-makers or other life saving devices.