Power paper made from nano-cellulose, conductive polymer has outstanding ability to store energy

08-Dec-15

Power paper- a new material consisting of nano-cellulose and a conductive polymer with an outstanding ability to store energy, has been developed by researchers in Sweden. Each sheet is 15 cm in diameter and a few tenths of a mm thick and can store energy similar to the super-capacitors currently on the market. The material can be recharged hundreds of times and each charge only takes a few seconds. “Thin films that function as capacitors have existed for some time. What we have done is to produce the material in three dimensions. We can produce thick sheets,” said Xavier Crispin, professor of organic electronics at Linkoping University in Sweden. The structural foundation of the material is nano-cellulose or cellulose fibres which, using high-pressure water, are broken down into fibres as thin as 20nm in diameter. With the cellulose fibres in a solution of water, an electrically charged polymer, also in a water solution, is added. The polymer then forms a thin coating around the fibres.