Creators
Jennifer Lewis, a materials scientist at Harvard University, and her team have created a lithium-ion battery that fits comfortably on the head of a pin. This battery is one of the smallest batteries ever made, and it was created using a 3D printer. Making a working battery with a 3D printer requires a custom machine that lays down new materials loaded with lithium-metal-oxide particles. The average 3D printer only manipulates plastic. This is useful for many other things, but not so useful when it comes to creating a battery.
3D Printed Microbatteries
The 3D printer printed a pair of five-fingered electrodes that interlock together. The paste then hardened and this process was repeated many times to increase the height of the electrodes. The final product weighs less than 100 micrograms and included 16 strata submerged in an electrolyte solution. Despite being small, gram for gram it stores almost as much energy as a larger lithium-ion battery.
3D printed batteries could be very useful for creating custom batteries for many different applications. This customizability will be appealing for use in cellphones, laptops and even small robots. This process also opens the door to creating other things using 3D printing. A list of patents that are related to to this technology is provided below.
Patent No. | Title | |
1. | 8,636,938 | Modular fabrication systems and methods |
2. | 8,634,476 | High definition camera |
3. | 8,617,090 | Oral care device |
4. | 8,565,909 | Fabrication of materials with desired characteristics from base materials having determined characteristics |
5. | 8,562,324 | Networked three-dimensional printing |
6. | 8,503,539 | High definition personal computer (PC) cam |
7. | 8,425,218 | Networked three-dimensional printing |
8. | 8,414,280 | Networked three-dimensional printing |
9. | 8,289,352 | Providing erasable printing with nanoparticles |
10. | 8,254,608 | Hearing aid device and method of producing a hearing aid device |
11. | 8,224,006 | Hearing aid device and a method of manufacturing a hearing aid device |
12. | 8,185,229 | Apparatus and methods for handling materials in a 3-D printer |
13. | 8,163,003 | Active blood vessel sleeve methods and systems |
14. | 8,032,337 | Method for modeling customized earpieces |
15. | 7,979,152 | Apparatus and methods for handling materials in a 3-D printer |
16. | 7,971,991 | Apparatus and methods for handling materials in a 3-D printer |
17. | 7,939,003 | Modular fabrication systems and methods |
18. | 7,828,022 | Apparatus and methods for handling materials in a 3-D printer |
19. | 7,625,198 | Modular fabrication systems and methods |
20. | 7,615,141 | Electrochemical micromanufacturing system and method |
21. | 7,480,387 | In the ear hearing aid utilizing annular acoustic seals |
22. | 7,263,791 | Display device |
23. | 7,234,257 | Means for maintaining spatial relationships in lenticular display units |
24. | 7,164,775 | In the ear hearing aid utilizing annular ring acoustic seals |
25. | 7,050,293 | Foldable mobile station with non-cylindrical hinge |
26. | 5,319,390 | Thermal printer apparatus |