UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY – What is innovation? It is the act of improving something that is already established. The current generation of lithium-ion batteries are widely accepted as a preferred power source for portable consumer electronics. And such batteries have limitations when the overall output capacity, life cycle, safety and the application areas are considered. The following are some important researches from recent times that are aimed to optimise and expand the possible uses of lithium-ion batteries.
Powerful microbatteries that size up to few millimeters only, and also charge instantly
This was made possible by setting a balance between high power and high energy, which is difficult to achieve in the current generation of batteries. These microbatteries are also said to charge instantly, like 1000 times quicker. They could power wireless devices to transmit signals 30 times faster.
And how about using them to jump-start a dead car battery? Yes, that’s on the list too.
The application areas are, but not limited to consumer electronics and medical devices.
Via [Illionis.EDU]
3D printing super-tiny lithium-ion microbatteries
3D printing has been used to demonstrate the possibility of printing miniature sized microbatteries, similar to a grain of sand. And the performance, with respect to charge and discharge cycles was found to be similar to commercial batteries.
Researchers produced inks for the anode and cathode from separate nano-particles. The 3D printer would then deposit the inks onto a comb shaped material. The battery was completed by packing the electrodes into a container and filling it with an electrolyte solution.
The application areas are both medical and non-medical industries.
Via [Seas.Harvard.EDU]