Origami battery created by Binghamton University’s engineer

Japanese origami art has been used since a long time for creating beautiful decorative masterpieces. An engineer of Binghamton University extended this art to creating a battery. Seokheun “Sean” Choi says in Nano Energy Journal that this paper – made battery is powered by bacteria and thus is very inexpensive. These batteries could one day be used in running bio – sensors installed in remote locations. The microbial respiration from the bacteria is what that generates power in the battery. This battery contains just a drop of liquid containing the bacteria and is capable of generating enough power so as to drive bio – sensors that are paper – based. Since dirty water contains much organic matter, this could be used as a good source of bacteria and their metabolism. Choi developed this method keeping in mind the needs of the people working in remote areas where the resources are very much limited. Bacteria apart, the paper is also an inexpensive and easily available commodity. Not just this, a number of researchers have been working on developing diagnostic tools for disease control and prevention using paper as a key material. Also paper doesn’t pollute land, it is biodegradable. Another advantage of using paper comes from its capillary action that allows it to such a liquid without requiring any syringes or external pumps.

Even though paper – based bio – sensors are showing a lot of promise in this field, the problem of pairing this technology with hand – held devices still exists. This is essential for analysis. Choi’s project aims at building a self – powered system based up on this paper battery – that would be able to create energy in microwatts for driving the bio – sensors. He has received a grant of $300,000 from National Science Foundation for this project.

This battery can be folded in to pack of size same as that of a matchbook. It contains an ordinary office paper with its one side sprayed with nickel thus forming an air – breathing cathode. This is again very inexpensive. The anode is formed by printing carbon paints on the screen. This results in build up of a hydrophilic zone marked by wax boundaries.

Any guesses how much this eco – friendly innovative battery could cost? Five cents! (Surprised?)

Choi did his undergraduate and master work in South Korea. From Arizona State University he earned a doctorate before finally joining the Binghamton University as a faculty of electrical and computer engineering. He currently holds 2 U.S. patents. He initially worked on this project in collaboration with Hankeun Lee who graduated from Binghamton itself and is also the co – author of the article in the journal. Choi says he actually got the answer while working on earlier designs of paper – based batteries where he connected 4 devices in series and lit up an LED before trying the origami method.

The article as it appeared in the journal can be read here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211285515002359