Out of power? Just spray on these batteries!

Beer stein battery!
(Courtesy - BBC/Rice University)

Science has done it again! Welcome to the world of paintable batteries. An article recently popped up on Nature.com and it claimed that if you could strip down a battery's main components - electrodes et al included, and spray or paint them sequentially over each other onto any solid surface, you could in theory have a working power source right then and there.
The team from Rice University, Texas have managed to test out their theory and create a paintable battery measuring just about 0.5mm thick. They needed to create a 5 layered sandwich that comprised of several common and novel battery chemicals - including standard chemicals found in Lithium Ion batteries. The team also incorporated carbon nanotubes - microscope bundles of carbon tubes that have great thermal and electric conductivity.

Courtesy - Paintable battery, Singh N et al 2012/Nature.com

The team also utilised a chemical called poly-methylmetacrylate which is used to stick the layers together and achieve synchrony, allowing the battery to work. This invention comes at a time when technology is losing the flat lines the hardware generally tends to have and bringing in the curves, unusual shapes and designs into the market place. Great piece of discovery, I'd love to see what more unusual bits and bobs pop up over the next few months.