Scientists at Texas based Rice University have developed a paint that operates as a rechargeable battery when sprayed onto a surface. The paint is sprayed on in layers to recreate the structure of a lithium-ion battery, which are used in just about every mobile device available.
The engineers responsible for the new creation explain that the paint can be sprayed on just about any surface and can be administered with a regular airbrush.
Gadget designers are sometimes hindered in their creations because of a lack of flexibility in the battery device used, but the ability to paint on a rechargeable power source could eliminate some of the limitations faced, especially in the design of very small devices.
Neelam Singh, graduate student and head of the engineering team that developed the technology, said; “The present work is just a concept of paintable batteries. We chose the materials to match those being used in lithium ion batteries, but we are talking about non-experts making them at home with safer materials.”
During testing, the paint was sprayed onto bathroom tiles and a small solar cell was used to charge it up. The tiles were setup in a parallel circuit and managed to power a group of LEDs for six hours.
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