Work is under way in Australia on an AUD11 ($8.3) million project to develop ultra-thin flexible screen-printed batteries for portable devices and intermittent renewable energy.
Brisbane-based battery energy storage firm Printed Energy said the innovation is a step closer to being made commercially available thanks to research carried out jointly by the University of New South Wales and University of Queensland.
The project has also recently secured AUD2 million ($1.5m) of funding from the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Projects initiative.
Printed Energy, which also has a laboratory in Arizona focused on energy storage and materials, said the solid state batteries are in a “thin, flexible format, printed in a roll-to-roll process like a newspaper” that can be adapted to almost any shape.
“The key compounds are commonly available metals such as zinc and manganese oxides and inorganic matrix structures mixed with polymers and electrolytes,” the company said. “Most importantly they are all non-toxic and very low flammability.”
Potential applications for the printed batteries “range from powering disposable healthcare devices, sensors, internet of things devices, smart cards, wearable electronics and personal lighting; to larger scale applications such as in combination with flexible solar panels to help manage intermittency and energy storage”, the company said.
