Power Paper Ltd. (Tel Aviv, Israel) has developed a battery that can be printed directly onto paper, plastic or other flexible material. The Power Paper battery uses chemicals in a combination of zinc and manganese-dioxide producing electrical energy like ordinary alkaline batteries.
Two electrodes, or terminals, separate an electrolyte. Connecting the battery's two terminals completes the circuit, allowing the electricity to flow and power whatever is attached. The Power Paper creation is also environmentally safe and does not require a hard metal case typical in ordinary dry-cell batteries.
Power Paper's proprietary chemical combination results in battery materials that are like printer's ink, which can be used in printing presses, allowing for flexible batteries. Using standard printing methods, the Power Paper material can be layered onto paper or any other flexible material. The resulting battery is about half a millimeter thick.
Power Paper has produced thin batteries that can generate 1.5V, but since the battery is thin, how long it lasts is proportional to its area. To produce as much power as a standard AA-sized battery would require a Power Paper battery of about a square foot in size. Applications could include smart cards, luggage tags and airline tickets.
