Can you imagine generating electricity from ordinary paper? Well, US-based Indian scientists have now achieved this technological breakthrough by opening up an avenue for the next generation devices like long lasting pace makers and paper-thin mobile phones.
Utilising paper and carbon nano-tubes — miniscule carbon pipes whose dimensions are smaller than human hair, the team has developed a portable and flexible energy source, which can deliver current and voltage like a normal battery.
“In a way its producing power from paper as cellulose (the chemical which constitutes paper) is a key ingredient,” one of the scientists, Dr Pulickel M Ajayan at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York told Deccan Herald. The findings have been reported in the online version of the US journal, “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
The paper was first impregnated with these carbon nanotubes through a chemical process. “It is not difficult to produce those nanoporous cellulose paper in the laboratory or industrial conditions,” he explained.
Subsequently lithium, aluminium and an electrolyte (for carrying the electrical charge) was used to create a battery-like device which powered an LED light.
This shows that “power from paper” is a reality and the efficiency is comparable to commercially available Lithium ion batteries, said Dr Ajayan who secured his BTech from the Benaras Hindu University.
Technically speaking, the New York team has created an innovative “super capacitor”. A capacitor is an electrical device that stores energy in the electric field between two closely placed plates, while a super capacitor can do it many times better.
The papers worked even when they were rolled up, twisted or bent. This technology works over a large temperature range and with many different electrolytes.
Even blood and sweat are suitable electrolytes for the super capacitors, which suggest many biological and medical applications.
Asked about the applications, the scientist who hails from Kodungallur in Kerala said,“A lot of things are possible as they have come out with the building blocks.”
Interestingly, the team which has stirred this technological marvel has five Indian PhD and post doctoral students.
