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Korean researchers have created a printable solid state battery that does not require the injection of an electrolyte solution into batteries and the use of separation membranes.
To exclude this element from the design of the battery, they created solid-state electrolytes that are able to pack electrodes and work in the same way as the above membrane. The electrodes are made from a printable grout and harden under the influence of ultraviolet light.
Separating membranes in conventional batteries prevent short circuits between bipolar electrodes, provide the necessary electrolyte supply for the interelectrode space, and prevent electrolyte from being transferred from one electrode to another.
New batteries have good battery life and 90% retain capacity after 30 recharge cycles. At the moment, these figures are not large enough, but the researchers plan to fix this by changing the thickness of the battery or increasing the print area.
“All battery components — such as cathodes, anodes, and electrolyte — can be printed on arbitrary shape geometric objects, which allows seamless integration of solid state batteries with various form factors into complex shape objects (for example, curved)," said Yang Li. As a demonstration of the new technology, the researchers printed a heart-shaped battery, and another one for the headset - outwardly, it looks like Google Glasses.
In the future, the research team will develop a battery that can be printed on clothes. Printed batteries are expected to hit the market in the next 3-5 years.
