Printed paper Batteries

The fabrication is done using scalable printing processes and our devices are targeted for low cost large volume applications within environmental and agricultural sensing, food packaging tracking and sensing and biomedical devices and implants.

The development in this project has been guided by the choice of materials where we have specifically focused on green materials with low environmental impact to design battery systems that can be recycled but also safely degraded in the environment. Two different technologies have been developed one is a fully 3D printed disposable carbon-based supercapacitor and the other is a water activated paper based zinc-air primary battery.

This work was supported by an Empa Internal Research project and the results have been disclosed in Advanced Materials were the supercapacitor work was featured on the journal cover and in Scientific Reports where the article was among the 100 most downloaded overall and the number one most downloaded within materials science for 2022.

The work has also been widely reported through Empa media releases on the biodegradable supercapacitor and the water activated paper battery with following features in Swiss TV SRF 10 vor 10 and in international press including Scientific American and Time Magazine where it was included on the list of “Best Inventions of 2022”.