A Billion-Hole Battery

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Battery companies and academic researchers keep finding ways to make ions flow quickly and efficiently within batteries. One way is to reduce the size of a cell so that the ions don’t have to travel far.  University of Maryland researchers may have achieved a miniaturization that boggles the mind. Their claim, that they’ve created a “single tiny structure that includes all the components of a battery that they say could bring about the ultimate miniaturization of energy storage components, comes from a story by Martha Heil in UMD Right Now. The structure is based on a nanopore, an incredibly tiny hole in a ceramic sheet 80,000 times thinner than a human hair.  The holes can hold electrolyte that carries a charge between the top and bottom surfaces of the ceramic sheet.  Millions of these holes poked through a postage stamp-sized sheet comprise a battery.  Researchers think the uniformity of the holes allows them to be packed tightly and efficiently together.  …