3D Printing & Batteries

Batteries have become indispensable tools in the battle against fossil fuels & the rise of the EMVs (Electric Motor Vehicles) has highlighted the curial role they play in this struggle. The revolution in energy storage has also brought us Electric Boats & Airplanes in addition to EMVs. As usual 3D printing is playing a pivotal role in making batteries cheaper, efficient & compatible with a wide array of applications across the Automobile, Aviation & Marine industry. 

3D printing is known to provide a capacity for rapid prototyping & the ability to achieve economies of scale at a blazing speed. Batteries produce energy in different cells that are put together inside them. Traditional methods of manufacturing require these to be produced separately & put together to form a single battery unit. With 3D printing methods, custom batteries with suited shapes of cells can be printed ‘whole’, eliminating extra time & improving the speed at which large amounts of batteries can be produced. This greatly reduces the cost of manufacturing batteries. 

In addition to reducing the price of manufacturing for batteries, 3D printing, also helps in raising the efficiency of batteries, in terms of the amount energy being stored. Porous electrodes in a battery help raise energy density. 3Dprinting can produce such electrodes that are porous at a ‘nano’ level, using a three dimensional ‘lattice’ structure. This lattice structure helps in exposing more surface area of the electrodes, where the chemical reactions that make a battery work are achieved. Hence the battery produces more energy. 

3D printing also aids in fabricating batteries of various shapes & sizes. As a battery can be 3D printed ‘whole’, battery makers do not have to glue together different cells that make up a battery. 3D printed batteries hence can be fashioned into desirable shapes & are lighter than their traditional counterparts. This helps product designers in the EMV, Aviation & Marine industries design vehicles, planes & boats, respectively, with a higher level of freedom & concern for accommodating cumbersome battery shapes. 

With 3D printing disrupting & revolutionizing manufacturing methods of batteries, a cleaner future, free of fossil fuels has dawned & the time when mankind achieves net zero emissions is on the horizon.