First-ever 3D-printed electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries

For the first time, researchers have successfully printed a complete, albeit experimental, lithium-ion battery including a solid-state electrolyte.

While electrodes have been produced using 3D-printing technology before, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Engineering have printed a stable, yet flexible, solid-state electrolyte using an elevated-temperature extrusion printing technique. They report their findings in the journal Advanced Materials.

Lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in home and portable electronics, and in some motor vehicles. They function by the movement of lithium ions from the negative electrode through an electrolyte, which can be liquid or solid, to the positive electrode during discharge and then back during the charge phase.

Read more at University of Illinois at Chicago

Image Credit: University of Illinois at Chicago

-jk