Scientists Create 'Paper Battery'

Scientists at Stanford University say they’ve created a “paper battery” by coating paper with ink made from silver and carbon nanowires. Earlier research showed those materials can create a battery 10 times as strong as the now-standard lithium-ion variety. The new result: a cheap, powerful and, above all, lightweight battery.

The battery could wind up powering everything from electric cars to portable electronics. “Society really needs a low-cost, high-performance energy storage device,” one researcher tells Reuters. “Our paper supercapacitors can be used for all kinds of applications,” including grid-connected energy storage. A chemistry professor from UC Berkeley says the technology could be swiftly commercialized. (More battery stories.)