A convenient foil

Zinc based foil batteries are light, very thin and safer than lithium

Foil battery is ultra-thin and flexible

Imprint Energy has an ambitious mission - to reshape the battery landscape.  As their website proclaims they are "rethinking the battery".

Most of the batteries that power our high consumption smartphones, laptops and tablets are lithium-ion, treasured for it's capacity and rechargeability.  Unfortunately Li-ion needs a lot of packaging around it to keep the highly volatile lithium electrolyte from getting out of control - it explodes in air and water.  Regardless of how thin and light we can make our devices, the lithium batteries add significant weight and bulk to the package.

Recognising that lithium is not going to cut it in the light and portable stakes, Californian start-up Imprint Energy is working with using zinc rather than lithium in their ultra-thin flexible batteries.  Zinc has previously been rejected as a rechargeable battery component because when it is combined with a traditional liquid electrolyte there is a tendency for undesirable crystals of dendrite to form but Imprint has overcome this issue  by using a solid polymer in place of the liquid.

With zinc being much more stable in normal environmental conditions the bulky packaging required with Li-ion can be abandoned, meaning the batteries using this technology can be very, very thin - just the thickness of a couple of human hairs.  They have high hopes that wearable tech and digital smart labels on packaging will be able to make good use of this technology.

Imprint Energy is certainly making people sit up and take notice. They are already churning out small volumes of batteries via a revolutionary printing technique.  The batteries are printed in much the same way as traditional screen printing so the design and shape can be customised to suit virtually whatever the customer wants.  The current production capability is tiny but this could be scaled up massively simply by partnering with a large battery producer.

Let's hope that they can quickly turn this exciting technology into a lucrative commercial reality.

Imprint Energy batteries bring hope for wearable tech (GigaOm)

Imprint Energy home