Researchers at UCLA designed a component that will power batteries a small as a grain of sand. Jane Chang, an engineer at UCLA, has designed the electrolyte that lets a charge flow between the electrodes. "We're trying to achieve the same power densities, the same energy densities as traditional lithium ion batteries, but we need to make the footprint much smaller," said Chang. Using a process called atomic layer deposition, she was able to apply the solid electrolyte lithium aluminosilicate to nanowires. The research was funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), to devise a way to make lithium-ion batteries smaller for use in nano-machines. While the project is still in its early stages, the other components of these micro-batteries have been made but have yet to be assembled and tested. Chang has presented her results to the AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition held on October 20th. You can read the abstract on Engineering LixAlySizO Thin Films as a Solid Electrolyte for 3D Microbatteries here: http://www.avssymposium.org/Open/SearchPapers.aspx?PaperNumber=EN+EM-TuA-3
Eavesdropper