Paper + Nanotechnology = Greater Power

Scientists have made batteries and supercapacitors with little more than ordinary office paper and some carbon and silver nanomaterials. Lightweight printable batteries is within grasp to be molded into computers, cell phones or solar panels. At the nano-scale, paper is a tangled matrix of fibers where the surface area helps inks stick. The paper acts as a scaffold, and the carbon nanotubes act as electrodes that electrolytes in solution react with. This nanotube-paper combination offers a lightweight alternative to traditional energy storage devices that rely on metals. Calculations indicate that conductive paper coated with a kilogram of the carbon nano-tubes is more efficient than plastic-based flat energy-storage devices. Power storage is an important aspect of the power crisis.

Reference: Wired