Toward fast and cost-effective ink-jet printing of solid electrolyte for lithium microbatteries

Ink-jet printing of ionogel for low-cost microbattery is presented. Such an approach allows to provide liquid-like electrolyte performances for all-solid microdevices. Ink-jet printing process is possible thanks to sol precursor of the ionogel. This full silica based ionogels confining ionic liquid are known to be thermal resistant, serving safety and technologies requiring solder reflow. High ionic conductivity and compatibility with porous composite electrodes allow reaching good electrochemical cycling performance: full Li-ion cell with LiFePO4 and Li4Ti5O12 porous composite electrodes shows a surface capacity of 300 mu Ah cm(-2) for more than 100 cycles. Such surface capacities are very competitive as compared to those obtained for microdevices based on expensive PVD processes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.