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Printing Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries
ckwu writes: The designs of pacemakers, watches, and other wearable gadgets have to be tailored around existing battery shapes, such as cylinders, coin cells, and rectangles. But a team of researchers hopes their fully printable, flexible lithium-ion batteries will one day free designers from these constraints. Battery shapes are now limited because of the need to contain liquid electrolytes. Two years ago, the researchers designed a printable, solid-state electrolyte composed of alumina nanoparticles and lithium combined with polymer that can be cured by ultraviolet light. In this latest work, they used a stencil printing technique to print full battery cells with the electrolyte and other printable materials for the electrodes. They printed batteries on paper and the curved surface of a glass mug. These printed Li-ion batteries can power small LEDs but still need a lot of improvements because they don't last long before needing recharging.
You know what else likes electrolytes? Plants! They crave it!
A friend of mine was looking into buying/managing a lithium cell factory.
He mentioned that one limiting problem with big packs (ie - electric vehicles) is heat dissipation. He opined that if you could make "shaped" cells you could put many of them in the interstitial spaces in a vehicle, such as between roof panels and in the columns that hold the windshield and in the quarter panels and so on.
(Okay, maybe not the roof because that gets hot in the summer sun, but you get the idea...)
The theory being that a large, flat battery has better heat dissipation than a rolled-up-newspaper cell packed snugly with many others.
So maybe you could put shaped batteries inside a drone frame, or a curved battery as part of a watch band.
Anyone know more about this? It'd be an interesting innovation to be able to get shaped batteries, in the same way one can get shaped plastic extruded pieces.
I can't wait for some hipster to make a wide-collar shirt out of this and watch them burst into flames when they accidentally short the cell putting their aviator glasses in their pocket. Should make good viewing on Vine.
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Obviously there must be more precise reason than 'cuz-its-a-liquid, last I checked Liquids will assume any shape and quite naturally.
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> gadgets have to be tailored around existing battery shapes, such as cylinders, coin cells, and rectangles.
That's what lithium-polymer batteries are for, they can be made in any shape.
Also, their example was a coffee mug. If you want a battery on a coffee mug, a disk shape on the bottom is already a perfect fit. (A large coin cell.). There aren't that many applications which won't fit any of rectangles, disks, or cylinders, or a grouping of one of those shapes.
More devices with batteries that either can't be replaced, or by the time they wear out replacements are no longer available.
So ... fins comeback?
There are plenty of problems with lithium polymer batteries, notably the flammable electrolyte. A transition en mass to safer LiFePo4 technology would help improve the tarnished reputation of the lithium batteries. There is a size weight penalty but its not severe, and many advantages.
Shaping and flexibility compounds the problems. Seems like a useless exercise.
... I know I know, but with the idea of everyone driving their home on large battery banks and our cars on large battery banks... gaining some logistical independence on the issue might be a good idea especially when the damn batteries are expensive, wear out quickly, etc.
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You didn't know bladders are cube-shaped?