Lithium-ion battery can be painted onto most surfaces

According to a statement, the rechargeable battery created in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan consists of spray-painted layers, each representing the components in a traditional battery. The research appears in Nature’s online, open-access journal Scientific Reports.

Lead author Neelam Singh, a Rice graduate student, and her team experimented with the formulation, mixing and testing of paints for each of the five layered components, namely two current collectors, a cathode, an anode and a polymer separator in the middle.

The materials were airbrushed onto ceramic bathroom tiles, flexible polymers, glass, stainless steel and a beer stein to see how well they would bond with each substrate.

In the first experiment, nine bathroom-tile-based batteries were connected in parallel. One was topped with a solar cell that converted power from a white laboratory light. When fully charged by both the solar panel and the house current, the batteries alone powered a set of light-emitting diodes that spelled out ‘RICE’ for six hours.