3D-printed tiny batteries developed

US researchers announced they have successfully used the three-dimensional (3D) printing technique 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 power them, according to a research team from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

3D printed batteries (Image credit: Harvard school of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

"Not only did we demonstrate for the first time that we can 3D- print a battery, we demonstrated it in the most rigorous way," senior author Jennifer Lewis of the Harvard University said in a statement.

The inks also had to function as electrochemically active materials to create working anodes and cathodes, and they had to harden into layers that are as narrow as those produced by thin-film manufacturing methods.

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In the end, the researchers created an ink for the anode with nanoparticles of one lithium metal oxide compound, and an ink for the cathode from nanoparticles of another.

The printer deposited the two inks onto the teeth of two gold combs, creating a tightly interlaced stack of anodes and cathodes. Then the researchers packaged the electrodes into a tiny container and filled it with an electrolyte solution to complete the battery.

The researchers said despite its tiny size, the battery's electrochemical performance is "comparable to commercial batteries" in terms of charge and discharge rate, cycle life and energy densities.

The findings were published online in the journal Advanced Materials.

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