The battery's dead: Scientists invent wafer-thin plastic that can store electricity

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 2/6/10 | David Derbyshire

[ruralvoter]

The battery, which has powered our lives for generations, may soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.

British scientists say they have created a plastic that can store and release electricity, revolutionising the way we use phones, drive cars - and even wear clothes.

It means the cases of mobiles and iPods could soon double up as their power source - leading to gadgets as thin as credit cards.

[Terpfen]

Every few months we get a story about new battery or battery replacement technology and it never goes anywhere.

Zzzzz.

[GrannyAnn]

Plastic? Can’t use plastic. Plastic comes from big bad oil. No No No....not plastic.

[Britt0n]

Ping

[driftdiver]

How much of a charge can it hold. There are stories of paper based batteries as well. Don’t see those in my cell phone.

[Ron C.]

Not a new battery invention!

It's not a battery - it's just a capacitor using new material and capacitor-held energy can be quite dangerous.

This isn't going to fly any better than prior capacitive storage schemes to replace batteries.

[Pontiac]

Dr Emile Greenhalgh, from Imperial College London's Department of Aeronautics, said the material is not really a battery, but a supercapacitor - similar to those found in typical electrical circuits.

This could be great. No more nasty heavy metals like Cadmium going in to land fills.

[dfwgator]

"It's only 'wafer thin.'"

[Mr_Moonlight]

The battery's dead: Scientists invent wafer-thin plastic that can store electricity

Catchy headline -- but a battery, no matter what its chemical composition or whether it produces or stores electricity, is still called a battery ....

[DGHoodini]

I’ll believe it when I see them on the store shelves.

[OldDeckHand]

"It's not a battery - it's just a capacitor using new material and capacitor-held energy can be quite dangerous. "

Precisely. Capacitors are the primary reason that people who are not very familiar with electrical circuits should NEVER remove the back back of high-energy electronics, like televisions.

[Ken H]

It will have to undergo a battery of tests before marketing.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It is actually not a battery but a capacitor.

[Bob]

His team's prototype - which is around five inches square and wafer-thin - takes five seconds to charge from a normal power supply and can light an LED for 20 minutes.

Assuming a 10-milliamp load from the LED, a 20-minute run time for this device equates to a capacity of:

10 mA * 0.333 hours = 3.333 mAh

For comparison, a common non-rechargeable alkaline AA battery typically has a capacity of about 2700 mAh.

[henkster]

I remember back in the 70’s “futurists” were claiming we would be eating food made from plastic.

[dr_who]

Plus there are toxins in plastic that could KILL someone after approximately 77 years of prolonged exposure.

[1000 silverlings]

They are, arn’t they? The cheese on pizzas, it’s either plastic or dirt now

[grey_whiskers]

Like, *PING*, folks.

Cheers!

[visualops]

five inches square and wafer-thin

I used to have a bunch of those...they went in a slot on the keyboard..

[henkster]

Oh, you mean the “pasteurized processed cheese food composed of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.” Yeah, I see what you mean.

Oh well, I’ll just pour me a whiskey and “carbonated flavored beverage sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.”