Batteries have always been bulky, heavy and an environmental nightmare, making them a particularly evil necessity over the years. The bad rap that the traditional energy cell cops could be about to change however, with the invention of printable batteries that can be produced cost-effectively on a large scale. It was developed by a research team led by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Baumann of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS in Chemnitz. "Our goal is to be able to mass produce the batteries at a price of single digit cent range each," states Dr. Andreas Willert, group manager at ENAS.
The characteristics of the battery differ significantly from those of conventional batteries. The printable version weighs less than one gram on the scales, is not even one millimeter thick and can therefore be integrated into bank cards, for example. The battery contains no mercury and is in this respect environmentally friendly. Its voltage is 1.5 V, which lies within the normal range. By placing several batteries in a row, voltages of 3 V, 4.5 V and 6 V can also be achieved.
The new type of battery is composed of different layers: a zinc anode and a manganese cathode, among others. Zinc and manganese react with one another and produce electricity. However, the anode and the cathode layer dissipate gradually during this chemical process. Therefore, the battery is suitable for applications which have a limited life span or a limited power requirement, for instance greeting cards.
The batteries are printed using a silk-screen printing method similar to that used for t-shirts and signs. A kind of rubber lip presses the printing paste through a screen onto the substrate. A template covers the areas that are not to be printed on. Through this process it is possible to apply comparatively large quantities of printing paste, and the individual layers are slightly thicker than a hair. The researchers have already produced the batteries on a laboratory scale. At the end of this year, the first products could possibly be finished.
At this stage, printable batteries are definitely an item requiring specialised manufacturing processes. Hopefully after their commercial release it will only be a matter of time before we fill up our printers with a chemical mix instead of ink – printing power, not prose.
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That's pretty neat, having a battery stored away within a card in case of emergencies. And of course, more power could easily be generated by linking these batteries in parallel. Given their greatly reduced size, it shouldn't be a problem doing this to power a larger device such as a phone or camera. But I guess the lifespan of the battery must be fixed first before going on to the larger devices...
If they could upscale the output of this battery in the future while keeping the size roughly the same that would be of great benefit for all those larger devices that require much more jolt like MP3 players and mobile phones. And with a smaller battery size we would conceivably see a reduction in device size as well, or many more features packed into a similar siezed device in comparison to today's stuff.