Papertronics: How flexible, bio-batteries based devices can be the future
It
seems like every few months there’s a new cellphone, laptop or tablet that is
so exciting people line up around the block to get their hands on it. While the
perpetual introduction of new, slightly more advanced electronics has made
businesses like Apple hugely successful, the short shelf life of these electronics
is bad for the environment.
Modern
electronics are filled with circuit boards on which various metals and plastics
are soldered together. Some of these materials are toxic – or break down into toxic
substances. There are efforts underway to boost recycling of e-waste,
recovering materials that can be reused and properly disposing of the rest. But
most devices end up added to the growing piles of e-waste in landfills.
I’ve
developed flexible batteries, batteries powered by saliva and more. I figured
that when seeking to power paper-based electronics, it made sense to try to
make a battery out of paper. Fortunately, paper is a good potential battery
material: It’s flexible, a good insulator – which makes it a good platform for
mounting electronic components on – and absorbs and releases fluids easily. We
added polymers – poly (amic) acid and poly(pyromellitic
dianhydride-p-phenylenediamine) – to improve those electrical characteristics. Read Complete Article
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