scientiest say papper battery could be in the works

Ordinary paper could one day be used as a lightweight battery to power the devices that are now enabling the printed word to be eclipsed by email, e-books and online news.
Scientists at Stanford University in California reported last week they had successfully turned paper coated with ink made of silfer and carbon nanomaterials into a ''paper battery'' that held promise for new types of lightweight, high performance energy storage.
The same feature that helps ink adhere to paper allows it to hold onto the single-walled carbon nanotubes and silfer nanowire films.
Earlier research found that silicon nanowires could be used to make betteries 10 times as powerful as lithium-ion batteries now used to power devices such as laptop computer.
''taking advantage of the mature paper technology, low cost, light and high-performance energy storage are realized by using conduvtive paper as current collectors and electrodes'' the scientist said in research published in the proceedings of the national academy of science.
This type of battery could be useful in powering electric or hybrid vehicles, would make electronics lighter weight and longer lasting, and might even lead someday to paper electronics, the scientists said. Battery weight and life have been an obstacle to commercial viability of electric powered cars and trucks.
''sociaty really needs a low-cost, high performance energy storage device, such as batteries and simple super capacitors'' Stanford assistant professor of materials science and engineering and paper co-auther Yi Cui said.
Cui said in an email that in addition to being useful for portable electronics and wearable electronics'' our paper super capacitors can be used for all kinds of applications that require instant high power''
''since our paper batteries and super capacitors can be very low cost, they are also good gor grid-connected energy storage''he said.
Peidong Yang, professor of chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, said the technology could be commersialized within a short period of times- Reuters.