Biologically-based pressure activated thin-film battery

Abstract

There is an industrial interest in utilizing large volume manufacturing processes such as printing (e.g. stencil, roll-to-roll) to produce thin-film functional components. These components will require power sources, for example thin-film batteries, and it would be advantageous to be able to produce these powering items in-line with the components. Traditional primary thin-film batteries have limited storage capacities due to mass limitations and unavoidable losses. The current effort demonstrates a zinc/manganese oxide reserve battery that has been produced through combination of stencil and roll-to-roll printing on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate utilizing fish roe for the ion conducting electrolyte storage and separator. The creation of a reserve battery which can be activated when power is required by the deformation of the battery is an approach to extend battery storage times.