Chemnitz University energy specialists in Saxony, Germany published an open source report in Wiley Online Library. In this, they imagined a world of smart dust, networking a future of microscopic internet things. But they realized these would need batteries to power them. And so they applied their minds to rice-grain-size batteries powering smart dust. We thought why not, and report on their creative ideas here.
Imagine Smart Dust Powered by Rice-Grain-Size Batteries
Smart dust is a future term for a network of millions of autonomous micro systems. Therefore these will comprise smart micro sensors, and millimeter-scale computing devices, according to Interesting Engineering. They could monitor our forests for fires starting, or detect a virus in our sewers to mention just two possibilities.
That said, those myriads of tiny devices will need an energy supply to power them, at least as things stand today. This means we are also imagining myriads of highly efficient micro storage cells. The team from Chemnitz University therefore applied their minds to developing rice-grain-size batteries powering smart dust.
1: positive terminal 2: outer metal casing (also negative terminal) 3: positive electrode 4: negative electrode with current collector (metal grid, connected to metal casing) 5: separator (between electrodes)
And They Sourced the Ideas from Electric Car Batteries!
The Chemnitz University team in Saxony, Germany turned to electric-vehicle battery technology for advice. That’s because these also cram as much stored energy as possible into the tiniest spaces. And so they also used a Jelly Roll (AKA Swiss Roll) design for their micro battery design.
You can read more about this, and see fascinating images too, if you follow the link to Wiley Online Library below. We are as proud as ever of the way our favorite topic batteries are playing such a critical role in future technology. We can’t wait to see what our intuitive minds come up with next.
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Link to Article in Wiley Online Library
