Cheng et al.
Paper batteries are a thing, apparently, so that’s really cool right there. Even cooler: Folding them up into battery origami increases their energy density by 14 times.
The lithium-ion battery is made of paper towels (!) coated with carbon nanotubes, then layered with lithium oxide powders, aluminum, and copper like some kind of delicious battery Napoleon. Folding it using an origami method called a Miura fold makes it 25 times smaller and 14 times more energy-dense. Here’s a totally mesmerizing GIF of what that might look like:
This could be useful for making flexible e-ink digital paper powered by flexible, foldable paper batteries, or for any of the handy ideas in the video below — although to be fair we’re mainly imagining replicants powered by origami unicorns.
