Yifan Gao, PhD student in the lab of Wyatt Tenhaeff, assistant professor of chemical engineering, works with a iCVD (initiated chemical vapor deposition) reactor, which will be used to synthesize solid electrolytes for 3D microbatteries. (University photo/J. Adam Fenster)

A University of Rochester researcher is helping develop next-generation miniature batteries that would expand the use of medical implantables and other devices.

As sensors become smaller and smaller, the challenge is to proportionally shrink the batteries they require. For years, researchers have been working to develop ever smaller, thin film lithium ion batteries. They are fabricated using processes akin to semiconductor processing, in which the anode (the positively charged electrode), cathode (the negatively charged electrode) and electrolyte (the material that allows electricity to flow from one electrode to another) are laminated as thin layers.

The challenge is generating sufficient energy densities at such a small scale. One approach is to put these thin film structures on 3D platforms, which increases the surface area. The challenge plaguing the 3D microbattery research field, however, has been the preparation of ultrathin (less than 100 nm) solid electrolytes with sufficient conductivity. The research will attempt to show that a process called initiated chemical vapor deposition (ICVD) can solve this problem.

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