3-D microbatteries

Batteries based on three-dimensional (3-D) microstructures are shown to offer significant advantages (e.g., small areal footprint, short diffusion lengths) in comparison to thin film devices for powering microelectromechanical systems and miniaturized electronic devices. A key limitation in all 3-D periodic cell architectures is the inherent non-uniform current density. Finite-element simulations of the current and potential in several cathode/anode array configurations are presented to illustrate the difficulty in obtaining relatively uniform current densities in 3-D batteries based on periodic elements. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.