Highly conductive paper for energy-storage devices

A disadvantage of lithium-ion cells lies in their relatively poor cycle life: up

on every (re)charge, deposits form inside the electrolyte that inhibit lithium i
on transport, resulting in the capacity of the cell to diminish. The increase in
internal resistance affects the cell's ability to deliver current, thus the pro
blem is more pronounced in high-current than low-current applications. The incre
asing capacity hit means that a full charge in an older battery will not last as
long as one in a new battery (although the charging time required decreases pro
portionally, as well).
Also, high charge levels and elevated temperatures (whether resulting from charg
ing or being ambient) hasten permanent capacity loss for lithium-ion batteries.[
32][33] The heat generated during a charge cycle is caused by the traditional ca
rbon anode, which has been replaced with good results by lithium titanate. Lithi
um titanate has been experimentally shown to drastically reduce the degenerative
effects associated with charging, including expansion and other factors.[34] Se
e "Improvements of lithium-ion technology" below.
At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the
time at 25 °C or 77 °F will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year.
However, a battery in a poorly ventilated laptop may be subject to a prolonged e
xposure to much higher temperatures, which will significantly shorten its life.
Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C (32
°F), 20% at 25 °C (77 °F), and 35% at 40 °C (104 °F). When stored at 40% 60% charge level,
the capacity loss is reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius resp
ectively.[35][citation needed]
The nanoengineered battery is lightweight, ultra thin,
completely flexible, and geared toward meeting the trickiest
design and energy requirements of tomorrow's gadgets,
implantable medical equipment, and transportation vehicles.
Along with its ability to function in temperatures up to 300
degrees Fahrenheit and down to 100 below zero, the device
is completely integrated and can be printed like paper. The
device is also unique in that it can function as both a
high-energy battery and a high-power supercapacitor, which
are generally separate components in most electrical
systems. Another key feature is the capability to use human
blood or sweat to help power the battery
There is strong recent interest in ultrathin, flexible, safe energy
storage devices to meet the various design and power needs of
modern gadgets. To build such fully flexible and robust electrochemical
devices, multiple components with specific electrochemical
and interfacial properties need to be integrated into single
units. Here we show that these basic components, the electrode,
separator, and electrolyte, can all be integrated into single contiguous
nanocomposite units that can serve as building blocks for
a variety of thin mechanically flexible energy storage devices.
Nanoporous cellulose paper embedded with aligned carbon nanotube
electrode and electrolyte constitutes the basic unit. The units
are used to build various flexible supercapacitor, battery, hybrid,
and dual-storage battery-in-supercapacitor devices. The thin freestanding
nanocomposite paper devices offer complete mechanical
flexibility during operation. The supercapacitors operate with
electrolytes including aqueous solvents, room temperature ionic
liquids, and bioelectrolytes and over record temperature ranges.
These easy-to-assemble integrated nanocomposite energy-storage
systems could provide unprecedented design ingenuity for a variety
of devices operating over a wide range of temperature.the cost of manufacturing
is less compared to li-ion batteries.
a sheet resistance as low as 1 ohm per
square (/sq) by using simple solution processes to achieve conformal
coating of single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) and silver
nanowire films. Compared with plastics, paper substrates can
dramatically improve film adhesion, greatly simplify the coating
process, and significantly lower the cost. Supercapacitors based on
CNT-conductive paper show excellent performance. When only
CNT mass is considered, a specific capacitance of 200 F/g, a specific
energy of 30 47 Watt-hour/kilogram (Wh/kg), a specific power of
200,000 W/kg, and a stable cycling life over 40,000 cycles are
achieved. These values are much better than those of devices on
other flat substrates, such as plastics. Even in a case in which the
weight of all of the dead components is considered, a specific
energy of 7.5 Wh/kg is achieved.