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Researchers have developed a new lightweight, rechargeable battery using paper, algae and salt.
Battery technology has been slow to develop in the past few decades, with few advances in battery design, charging rate or capacity, but the new battery can be recharged within seconds – a huge advance on existing technology.
Researchers from Uppsala University, Sweden, built the environmentally-friendly battery by making electrodes out of thin pieces of paper coated with cellulose from algae, which dramatically increases their surface area. These paper electrodes are separated by a piece of cellulose coated in sodium chloride – table salt -– which acts as the electrolyte.
"This design is new and it provides both sufficiently high battery capacities （due to the large surgace area） and the ability to charge （and discharge） the battery very rapidly （due to the thin layer of the conducting polymer）, says Leif Nyholm, an author on the paper published in Nano Letters. "Since our approach is based on the use of electrodes composed of cellulose and electrolyte composed merely of sodium chloride, the device is inexpensive and straightforward to manufacture. This holds great promise for use in areas where, for example, lithium batteries cannot be employed."
Not only is the new battery made with cheap materials, but it can also be put together quickly and could have implications for powering medical diagnostic devices in developing countries, said Maria Stromme in Technology Review, who is also another co-author on the study.
Luis Ortiz, research director from Group Sadoway at MIT said Nyholm and his colleagues' design is a "welcome development and should encourage other researchers to take chances," particularly as there is a lack of "fresh ideas" about how to advance battery technology.
He questioned the terminology applied to it, suggesting it might be a "super/ultra capacitor rather than a battery since it looks like much （though not all） of the energy is stored capacitively."
Even so, he said, that's not necessarily a bad thing. "Capacitors certainly have an important role in the energy storage landscape, so to put this label on the technology is not a negative."
研究者發(fā)明了一種新型的用紙、藻類(lèi)和鹽造成的輕便的、可充電的電池。在過(guò)去的數(shù)十年，電池技術(shù)的發(fā)展紀(jì)極為緩慢的，只是在電池的設(shè)計(jì)、充電量或者容量方面有所改進(jìn)，但是這種新型的電池可以在幾秒鐘內(nèi)充滿(mǎn)電--對(duì)目前的技術(shù)來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)很大的進(jìn)步。
來(lái)自瑞典烏普沙拉大學(xué)的研究者設(shè)計(jì)出這種用幾條外面凃有從藻類(lèi)中提取的纖維素的紙條制作成的電極的環(huán)境友好型電池，從而極大的提高了其表面積。這些紙質(zhì)電極在氯化鈉或食鹽（其起到電解質(zhì)的作用）,被凃有的纖維素分開(kāi)。
Leif Nyholm在《納米文摘》上發(fā)表文章說(shuō)，"這是一種新型的設(shè)計(jì)，其可以不但可以提供充足的高電量（因?yàn)榫薮蟮谋砻娣e）和快速的充電和放電能力（因?yàn)槔w細(xì)的導(dǎo)電聚合物層）."因?yàn)槲覀兊姆椒ㄊ墙o予使用纖維素構(gòu)成的電極和幾乎是由氯化鈉構(gòu)成的電解質(zhì)，因而這種設(shè)備是可以直接制造生產(chǎn)的，而且價(jià)格不貴。在鋰電池不能勝任的領(lǐng)域，這種新型電池將有廣闊的使用前景。
這一研究成果的另一作者M(jìn)aria Stromme 在《技術(shù)評(píng)論》說(shuō)，這種新型電池不僅制造材料價(jià)格低廉，而且可以快速整合，并且在發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家可以為電子診斷儀器提供電源。
麻省理工學(xué)院Sadoway團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)人Luis Ortiz說(shuō)，Nyholm和他的同事的這項(xiàng)設(shè)計(jì)"是一種積極的發(fā)展，并且可以鼓勵(lì)其他研究者繼續(xù)研究開(kāi)發(fā)",尤其是在這個(gè)缺乏"新鮮創(chuàng)意"來(lái)發(fā)展電池技術(shù)的領(lǐng)域。
他質(zhì)疑這項(xiàng)技術(shù)的可應(yīng)用性，說(shuō)"既然其看起來(lái)可以?xún)?chǔ)存很多的能量（其實(shí)不然）,那它可能是一種超強(qiáng)或者巨大的電容器而不是一種電池。"
Luis Ortiz說(shuō)，雖然如此，這或許還是一項(xiàng)好事情。"電容器在電力儲(chǔ)存領(lǐng)域占有重要地位，因而把這個(gè)標(biāo)簽放在這項(xiàng)技術(shù)上不是一件壞事情。"
