C+-+new+battery+design

Vanessa Barbini
SCH4U-03

**Q** : What new battery designs are curretnly being developed ?
====• **Review :** A battery is a cell that contains an anode, a cathode and a conducting solution. When a path is created for the electrons (between the two electrodes) chemical energy is transformed into electrical energy. In primary batteries (non-rechargeable) the reaction can only happen once, but in secondary batteries (rechargeable) the reaction can be reversed.==== ====• **Problem :** Current batteries are complicated to make and dispose of ; the chemicals and metals involved, make them very unenvironmentally friendly. (This also depends on the type of battery, for example lithium cells, zinc carbon cells, or magnesiun cells, etc.) Inconveniently, they also take up a lot of space.====

• **What is a carbon nanotube ?** A carbon nanotube is a tiny fiber (molecular-scale) made of graphitic carbon that is very strong and is a good conductor of electricity.
====• The concept of a nonotube-paper battery is that the carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires are in an ink that is printed onto normal paper. Paper is made up of tangled, criss-crossed fibers that provide a large surface area for the nanotubes to bond with. During testing, the ink stuck successfully, in spite of trials with adhesive tape.====

• The nanotubes will work as the electrodes of the battery.
====• The way it is actually made is by taking two sheets of paper printed with the nanotube ink and placing a peice of virgin paper between them. (This printing could potentially be done with a regular printer, if it is set up for the job.) The three parts are put in an electrolyte solution and it becomes a battery. A ballpark figure would be a 40 watt bulb, powered for an hour with one kilogram of carbon nanotubes.==== ====• **This new type of battery could solve problems** in energy storage because it is lightweight (being paper) and easy to construct. It does not involve dangerous chemicals or metals that are difficult to dispose of. It could be accessible to offices and printed on the spot.==== ====• **However,** the problem is that the amount of nanotubes need to achieve a useful amount of electricity is too high to be efficient at this point, (like the example with the lightbulb). The idea is to modify the design to solve this problem and make the nanotube-paper battery accessible to people for regular use.====

__References__:
Anglin, D, and Sadoway, D. (2008). “Battery”. AcessScience. ©McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved October 4, 2010 (http://www.accessscience.com/content.aspx?searchStr=battery+designs&id=075200).

Ehrenberg, R. (2009). “Batteries made from nanotubes…and paper”. AcessScience. ©McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved October 4, 2010 (http://www.accessscience.com/content.aspx?id=SN14398).

Harris, P. (2008). “Carbon nanotubes”. AcessScience. ©McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved October 4, 2010 (http://www.accessscience.com/content.aspx?id=800630)