Printing Tiny Batteries

Novel application of 3D printing could enable the development of miniaturized medical implants, compact electronics, tiny robots, and more

3D printing can now be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet provide enough stored energy to power them.

The scientists realized they could pack more energy if they could create stacks of tightly interlaced, ultrathin electrodes that were built out of plane. For this they turned to 3D printing. 3D printers follow instructions from three-dimensional computer drawings, depositing successive layers of material—inks—to build a physical object from the ground up, much like stacking a deck of cards one at a time

WOW! The printed anode contains nanoparticles of a lithium metal oxide compound that provide the proper electrochemical properties.

Creating these micro batteries, the scientists had to precisely interlace stacks of tiny battery electrodes, each less then the width of a human hair.

Pretty soon were all going to be robots that moon walk on the sun.




science.energy.gov...

www.seas.harvard.edu...

Google paper batteries, some very wild battery tech coming.

I am waiting for the nano tube crystal based ones that can be grown.

When they can "grow" nano tube crystal battery plates and the hybrid
super capacitor battery drops in price due to it electric cars are going to
get much cheaper.