Drop-on-demand 3D printed lithium-ion batteries

Custom printed secondary battery cells have market potential in two main fields – highly customized personal electronic devices, and small-scale battery production. While many different technologies may be utilized to produce a printed battery, Drop-on-Demand dispensing has the advantage of being highly customizable, notably with the ability to produce both very thin and thick batteries.

We report the cathode and anode printing protocols for patterned electrodes and various lithium-ion battery cell designs, and demonstrate their electrochemical properties. Our electrode inks are aqueous, with obvious environmental and processing benefits.

We chose to study lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode due to its excellent electrochemical performance. Our printed LFP cathodes exhibit close to theoretical capacity value, high rate capability and long cycle life. We also successfully printed silicon-based anodes, showing high capacity. These are the building blocks for thin-film batteries of high specific capacity and arbitrary geometry.