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A new battery, small and thin, weighs almost nothing and can be printed in a process similar to silk-screening shirts.

The printable battery is expected to be cheap and easy to mass produce and could be used in disposable receipts or cards, engineers in Germany announced today.

"Our goal is to be able to mass produce the batteries at a price of single digit cent range each," said Andreas Willert, of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS, where Reinhard Baumann led the battery's development.

The battery weighs less than 1 gram and is less than 1 millimeter thick. It runs at 1.5 volts. Placing several in a row can produce up to 6 volts.

A standard AAA battery weighs about 11.5 grams and also runs at 1.5 volts.

More info:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090702/sc_livescience/tinynewbatteryisprin...
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Mikeysfake1
  • added July 02, 2009

16 comments // Tiny Printable Battery

  •  

    Hey Mikey, I went ahead and pasted some info from the original story so that folks would have a little more info before they clicked through.

    But now that I've read this, I don't get it. Why would disposable receipts need batteries? Do they mean paper receipts?? Can someone explain to a moron like me what tiny printable batteries are good for?

    sarahlane
  •  

    @CharityIdeas on twitter says "Tiny New Battery Is Printable"

    twitterbot
  •  

    This is going to be one of the first steps to having animated CERAL BOXEZ!!

    [Like in Minority Report] Ha.

    Logitech_411
  •  

    "...several in a row can produce up to 6 volts." thats dope! these little guy's rock... just hope there cheaper than CD's cus it really ticks me off when I know something is created "...at a price of single digit cent range each" and I have to pay $18.99 for it!

    Bigdog_mike
  •  

    Aesthetic applications are possible with this kind of technology like those found in science fiction novels like Snow Crash and The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.

    Another possibility lies in the field of RFID chips. All that extra power might mean more information and greater range for those increasingly ubiquitous little chips.

    extblues
  •  

    It's definitely a cool concept, I think. Considering most Americans use batteries on a regular basis and then just throw them away when they're finished, this sounds more environmentally friendly. But the article says that its uses are pretty limited? If they found some way to make this thing more powerful, I think a lot more people would buy them. Providing that each one doesn't cost 7 gabillion dollars each, that is.

    Siriuslyfun19212
  •  

    @laurenrjones on twitter says "Printable batteries? That's awesome"

    twitterbot
  •  

    so my question is how long do these things last?

    LemonHarangue
  •  

    This idea has a lot of potential. However the article or the scientist don't give us anything to get excited about. Wow "disposable receipts" and cards whatever those are. Sounds like a waste to me. Tell me I can power my flying car of the future or something interesting.

    JulyJones
  •  

    approved...imagine the next phase

    dreamsenvoy
  •  

    Anything has to start somewhere, and this could be just the beginning of it. I hope the technology will evolve into multiple directions. After that the possibilies might be endless.
    Time will tell if it will be useful or waste.

    dablaq
  •  

    This is great! If they can make them last for longer they could corner the market in kids meal toys; the batteries in those things never last long.

    sirpaulmcdarkney

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