Taxi Driver Online

'Paint-on' batteries demonstrated

29 June 2012


The authors painted batteries onto standard
bathroom tiles, steel, glass, even a beer stein

Researchers have shown off a means to spray-paint batteries onto any surface.

Their batteries, outlined in Scientific Reports, are made up of five separate layers, each with its own recipe - together measuring just 0.5mm thick.

To demonstrate the technique, the team painted batteries onto steel, glass, ceramic tile and even a beer stein.

The approach will be of particular interest in industrial applications, as it is compatible with existing spray-painting technology.

The most common batteries are made up of negative and positive halves (the anode and the cathode), a material to separate them, and "current collector" layers at top and bottom to gather up the electric charges moving through.

Many batteries are made in a kind of "Swiss roll" geometry, in which the layers are rolled up into a cylindrical or round-edged rectangular shape.

But as more consumer technology is developed with challenging shapes and sizes, or "form factors", the need for batteries of non-standard shapes is rising.

Flexible paper batteries have been demonstrated, and there is clear interest in "structural batteries" built for example into the surfaces of electric vehicles.

The new work, from Rice University in Texas, US, opens up completely new avenues for putting batteries on nearly any surface in a simple and robust way.

Pulickel Ajayan and his colleagues chemically optimised the recipe for each of their five layers, using blends of chemicals common in lithium-ion batteries as well as novel materials including carbon nanotubes - tiny "straws" of carbon with incredible electronic properties.

But for the process to result in a working battery, all five layers must stick together and work in synchrony, and the tricky step was finding a separator material that kept the whole stack in one piece.

When the team hit on using a chemical called poly-methylmethacrylate, they had a structure that would stick even to curved surfaces.

"This means traditional packaging for batteries has given way to a much more flexible approach that allows all kinds of new design and integration possibilities for storage devices," said Prof Ajayan.

"There has been a lot of interest in recent times in creating power sources with an improved form factor, and this is a big step forward in that direction."

Source; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18623840

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

So after 3, 4 or 5 years when your electric taxi's batteries are knackered, you just go for a re-spray.



Clever stuff!!

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

What's the betting that Skippy already has it?

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Don't be daft; he's already on his second set of re-sprayed betteries.

They're in the calculator that he uses to work out the 25% discount on all his fares.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

right so if your batteries are painted onto the outside of your vehicle what happens when someone keys it does it knacker them ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Hopefully it gives them a great big f**k off electric shock.

you dont get it do you.....sigh

Ford build cars BUT they are far more interested in having factories that build petrol/diesel engines, these form the bulk of the cost/value of a car and also get sold to other car builders who dont have the facility to build engines, they (Ford) - and others- have spent BILLIONS building engine plants (Like BMW have at Coleshill), so WHY would they want to sell electric cars? work it out

Electric motors are far simpler to produce, theres no smelting/casting, far less CAD engineering+lathes, no pistons or stuff like that, they are lighter, and smaller, oh, and they produce 100% torque instantly

Whats needed is a power supply onboard, not batteries, a fuel cell like we can already produce in a car we already produce and a leccy motor (or 4) that have been around for years.....

If Ford have an "Area 51" i can bet theres a leccy Mondeo that runs for 1000's of miles with no charging or fuel, getting them to sell it (making every petrol/diesel car obsolete) is another thing altogether

Rover built a gas turbine car SIXTY-FIVE years ago and even competed at Le Mans, a GTurbine can run on any old crap, instead we know have Tdci engines that are made unuseable on bio-diesel, its not progress, theyve made sure we can only use 5% bio

We have a 70mph speed limit but car builders all want bigger BHP outputs, why? wouldnt bigger MPG be better? a petrol Mpndeo does 40mpg, I had a Mk3 Cortina almost that good years ago

No, something isnt right here, I feel fuel companies and car builders are holding leccy cars back, all we get to see are noddy/clowns cars with 70 mile ranges at 40mph....

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

why not stick diesel gen sets under the bonnet running at constant speed with far higher fuel efficiency providing the leccy

I'm sure if the car builders had the technology they would also be making sure that only they could produce and sell the fuel cells/special batteries etc. I think the real truth is that there is a reluctance to devote the research and development budgets to non carbon fuel vehicles untill the market for such vehicles starts to wane

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

you cant generate the required power (for 4 leccy motors) direct from a small genny, but you can from a small gas turbine, or more so from a hydrogen fuel cell, its noticeable that the "battery cars" like the Prius have leccy for low speed switching then to a IC engine and the Hybrid unit becomes a charger on overun, but batteries are heavy and have a finite life, god knows how much they will cost to replace

the Jaguar CX75 was planned to have a gas turbine but the first production models look set to have a petrol engine generator set

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most