New 3-D design for mobile microbatteries
In the race towards miniaturization, a French-US team—mostly involving researchers from the CNRS, Université de Lille, Université de Nantes and Argonne National Laboratory (US) as part of the Research Network on Electrochemical Energy Storage (RS2E)1-has succeeded in improving the energy density of a rechargeable battery without increasing its size (limited to a few square millimeters in mobile sensors). This feat was achieved by developing a 3-D structure made of microtubes, the first step towards producing a complete microbattery. The first experiments have demonstrated the excellent conductivity of the battery's solid electrolyte, whose highly encouraging performance is published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials on October 11, 2016.