Graphene and carbon nanotubes have a combination of excellent electrical properties and light weight that may eventually revolutionize electronics and energy storage technologies. But for now, most of their applications remain stuck in research labs, as producing them in bulk and then incorporating them into a device have both proven to be challenging. Now, some researchers at Stanford may have overcome the latter hurdle: they’ve managed to create a carbon nanotube ink that can easily be printed onto commercially available paper, which can then be directly incorporated into batteries and capacitors.
This isn’t the first time that batteries based on a paper-nanotube combination have been demonstrated.