The Power of the Press (The printing press, that is, making solid-state rechargeable batteries...)

The Economist ^ | Jan 27th 2011 | no attribution

[pingman]

ELECTRONICS made a huge leap forward when the delicate and temperamental vacuum tube was replaced by the robust, reliable transistor. That change led to the now ubiquitous silicon chip. As a consequence, electronic devices have become vastly more powerful and, at the same time, have shrunk in both size and cost. Some people believe that a similar change would happen if rechargeable batteries could likewise be made into thin, solid devices. Researchers are working on various ways to do this and now one of these efforts is coming to fruition. That promises smaller, cheaper, more powerful batteries for consumer electronics and, eventually, for electric cars.

The new development is the work of Planar Energy of Orlando, Florida—a company spun out of America’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 2007. The firm is about to complete a pilot production line that will print lithium-ion batteries onto sheets of metal or plastic, like printing a newspaper.

“Thin-film” printing methods of this sort are already used to make solar cells and display screens, but no one has yet been able to pull off the trick on anything like an industrial scale with batteries. Paradoxically, though thin-film printing needs liquid precursor chemicals to act as the “ink” which is sprayed onto the metal or plastic substrate, it works well only when those precursors react to form a solid final product. Most batteries include liquid or semi-liquid electrolytes—so printing them has been thought to be out of the question. Planar, however, has discovered a solid electrolyte it believes is suitable for thin-film printing.

[pingman]

Progress is being made on the battery power front. Expected energy density 2-3x lithium ion technology, at 1/3 the cost.

[Red Badger]

They print money, why not batteries?..........

[pabianice]

ELECTRONICS made a huge leap forward when the delicate and temperamental vacuum tube was replaced by the robust, reliable transistor

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I hope this guy knows more about economics than electronics. The old vacuum tubes were very robust and almost never failed. They could take 10 times the heat and 20 times the pounding of solid state stuff like transistors.

[Frantzie]

+1

I was looking in Musicians Friend catalog and they make tube amps and you can buy tubes. They use old General Electric (scum company) machinery to make them.

[Politically Correct]

The old vacuum tubes were very robust and almost never failed. Never failed????? So why was it that I was always replacing tubes in our TV?
That said they are very robust and built correctly they tolerate high G's, vibration and radiation much better than transistors.

[Cacique]

Btt

[Boiling point]

As a kid, we used to break open the used disposable Polaroid film cartridges to get the thin flat battery out that was used to power the film eject motor. They were about the same size as one of the photos.

[Red Badger]

So did I......;^)