There is now a way to manufacturer batteries with inkjet printers.
A research team led by Professor Lee Sang-yeong of UNIST’s (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) Energy and Chemical Engineering Department made an announcement on the 28th that it has developed a technology that can manufacture batteries by printing them out with inkjet printers. Printed batteries are similar to paper documents and these batteries are manufactured in images that were designed by computers.
This is the first time when words and pictures that are printed out on papers are used as power supplies. It is predicted that it will be possible to develop batteries that are more flexible and have more diverse designs and these can be used for IoT devices as well as wearable electronic devices.
“By using inkjet printers and A4 papers, we can now manufacture batteries with variety of designs, which were difficult with previous technologies.” said Professor Lee Sang-yeong.
Professor Lee’s research team made battery’s components in ink type and adjusted viscosity of ink so that they can be printed by inkjet printers. It also applied nano-sized cellulose to prevent ink to spread or break away. By applying cellulose material on top of a paper before printing battery’s components, it is able to prevent ink to spread. It increased characteristics of a battery by engrafting silver nano-particle and carbon nanotube and also used electrolytes that are strong against heat.
Printed batteries did not lose their capacities after going through 10,000 repetitions of charging and discharging and remained characteristics of a battery even in high temperature such as 150°C. They also did not lose performance even when they were bent 1,000 times. Due to an inkjet printing process, battery voltage and capacity can easily be controlled since batteries can be connected in series or in parallel like drawing a picture.
Professor Lee’s research team also succeeded in applying batteries, which were manufactured through this technology, onto paper maps and glass cups. LED lamps can be turned on by printing out a battery, which is in a shape of Korean map, and glass cups that turn on different color of lamps depending on temperature of water were made.
If this technology is optimized and if ink materials are diversified, not only next-generation batteries can be manufactured, but also micro-batteries can also be manufactured.
“This new method of designing and manufacturing batteries that can implement almost all images that can be designed by computers with batteries will contribute greatly in developing power supplies for IoT in the future.” said Professor Lee.
This research was carried out with support from Ministry of Science, ICP and Future Planning’s ‘Middle-End Researcher Supporting Project’. Result of this research was published online version of Royal Society of Chemistry’s ‘Energy and Environmental Science’ on the 22nd of June and it will be published as the main cover thesis.
Staff Reporter Lim, Dongshik | dslim@etnews.com