Batteries smaller than a grain of salt on the anvil

Scientists are trying to create batteries that would be smaller than a grain of salt. 

Jane Chang, an engineer at the University of California, Los Angeles, is designing one component of these batteries - the electrolyte that allows charge to flow between electrodes.

"We are trying to achieve the same power densities, the same energy densities as traditional lithium ion batteries, but we need to make the footprint much smaller," said Chang.

She is coating nano-wires-fabricated to maximize the surface-to-volume ratio, and thus the potential energy density, with electrolyte, the conductive material that allows current to flow in a battery.

Using atomic layer deposition that allows layers of material only an atom thick to be sprayed on a surface, she has successfully applied the solid electrolyte lithium aluminosilicate to these nano-materials.

The other components of these 3D micro-batteries, such as electrodes, have also been developed, but they have yet to be assembled and integrated to make a functioning battery.

Source: Presentation at the AVS 57th International Symposium and Exhibition in New Mexico, as reported by Yahoo India News/ ANI.