Micro batteries are smaller than a grain of sand, yet are comparable to your cell phone battery and other commercial batteries. Jennifer Lewis developed micro batteries at the University of Illinois and her team of researchers is currently working on the batteries at Harvard University. The micro batteries will power such small devices such as medical devices, tiny computer drones, and other electronic devices that have been put on hold for lack of small enough batteries.

 

How Micro Batteries are Made using 3D Printing

 

Lewis and her team custom-built their own 3D printer to handle the job of creating micro batteries. The 3D printer uses a nozzle that is 1 mm wide (less than the size of a human hair) to deposit pastes of lithium metal oxides to create the anode and cathode and then an electrolyte is added to complete the battery.