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Paint-on Battery Discovery Makes News In June, Rice engineers announced the development of a lithium-ion battery that can be painted on virtually any surface. The rechargeable battery created in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan consists of spray-painted layers, each representing the components in a traditional battery. “This means traditional packaging for batteries has given way to a much more flexible approach that allows all kinds of new design and integration possibilities for storage devices,” said Ajayan, Rice’s Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and professor of chemistry. The research appeared in Nature’s Scientific Reports. Lead author Neelam Singh, a Rice graduate student, and her team spent painstaking hours formulating, mixing and testing paints for each of the five layered components — two current collectors, a cathode, an anode and a polymer separator in the middle. The materials were airbrushed onto ceramic bathroom tiles, flexible polymers, glass, stainless steel and even a beer stein to see how well they would bond with each substrate. Once painted, the tiles and other items were infused with the electrolyte and then heat-sealed and charged. Singh said the batteries were easily charged with a small solar cell. She foresees the possibility of integrating paintable batteries with paintable solar cells to create an energyharvesting combination that would be hard to beat. The Rice researchers have filed for a patent on the technique, which they will continue to refine. “We really do consider this a paradigm changer,” she said.
Professor Pulickel Ajayan (center) with graduate students Charudatta Galande (left) and Neelam Singh (right), demonstrate the paintable battery concept. To check out the video, visit http://news.rice. edu/2012/06/28/rice-researchers-develop-paintable-battery-2/.
Know More: ››› ricemagazine.info/128 Watch the video ›› › ricemagazine.info/129
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This October, Carrie Brown, Rice’s new
executive director of Alumni Affairs, will be everywhere at once. Or so it may seem as Brown navigates her first alumni homecoming and reunion weekend, which occurs contiguously with Rice’s much-anticipated Centennial Celebration. That’s a Texas-sized helping of welcome for the director who arrived last May after a 16-year tenure at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Though the “drinking from the water hose” schedule may be unprecedented, Brown views the centennial year start date as a real advantage. “It gives me an opportunity to meet so many people, and that’s what alumni relations is all about — getting to know the constituency well,” Brown said. And despite the obvious differences between Smith, a distinguished liberal arts college for women in Massachusetts, and Rice, a distinguished coed research university in Texas, Brown noted that there are similarities that may not be obvious. For example, both schools have alumni groups totaling about 47,000. In addition, “Smith has a lot of Houstonians in its alumni ranks,” Brown said, “some of whom have been generous to Rice as well as Smith.” Most of all, Brown said, “Both alumni bodies are incredibly bright, engaged and devoted. They’re really smart people who are interested in maintaining that intellectual connection to the university as well as their social connections to their friends.” This past summer, Brown was busy hiring staff. Robyn Blackmon, director of alumni communications; Kate Almond, assistant director of alumni events and programs; and Monica Sedelmeier, alumni affairs specialist, have joined the alumni staff. They will join veteran staff members Jennifer Harding, Dan Stypa, Roque Strew, LaCresha Lamb and Veronica Bernal in the Huff House office. Brown has also been working diligently with Rice Public Affairs staff to