Pritesh Hiralal | Zinergy: Can a thin, printed battery really deliver higher peak currents than a rigid coin cell?
00:16:35 - 00:17:57
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Can a thin, printed battery really deliver higher peak currents than a rigid coin cell?
When comparing printed zinc batteries to conventional coin cells, the technical advantages emerge in two key areas: mechanical integration and peak power delivery. From a mechanical standpoint, the printed battery is thin, flexible, and can be adapted to any shape. This allows it to be printed directly onto a device's flexible substrate, eliminating the manual or mechanical assembly steps required for rigid coin cells and enabling more streamlined, lower-cost manufacturing.
The most significant technical differentiator is the peak current capability. A coin cell's power is limited by its small internal interface area between the anode and cathode, which is typically only one or two square centimeters. While its thicker electrodes may provide more total capacity (energy), this geometric constraint fundamentally limits the maximum peak current it can deliver without a significant voltage drop.
In contrast, a printed battery is designed as a thin, flat sheet, which allows for a very large anode-to-cathode interface area relative to its volume. This large surface area is the key to low internal resistance and high power. It enables the printed battery to deliver extremely high current pulses—such as the 500 milliamps required for a cellular label—a feat that is simply not possible with a standard coin cell of comparable size.
In this short video, you can learn:
* How direct printing onto devices reduces assembly costs compared to coin cells.
* Why a coin cell's geometry limits its peak current output, regardless of its capacity.
* How the large, flat interface area of a printed battery enables it to deliver extremely high peak currents (>500mA).
📋 **Clip Abstract** A direct technical comparison between printed zinc batteries and traditional coin cells. Learn why the unique form factor of printed batteries gives them a crucial advantage in peak power delivery for demanding IoT applications.
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#PrintedZincBatteries, #PeakCurrentDelivery, #FlexibleElectronics, #DirectBatteryPrinting, #IoTApplications, #WearableDevices
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Printable Zinc batteries
More Highlights from the same talk.
00:06:24 - 00:07:45
How can you print a 3V battery when the fundamental chemistry is only 1.5V?
How can you print a 3V battery when the fundamental chemistry is only 1.5V?
The core advantage of using printing technology for battery manufacturing is the immense level of customization it allows. The most obvious parameter is size; the larger the printed area of the battery, the higher its capacity and current capability. As a rule of thumb, this zinc-based chemistry provides between 4 to 5 milliamp-hours of capacity per square centimeter of active area, allowing designers to precisely tailor the energy content to fit their device's footprint.
A more advanced customization is the ability to engineer the output voltage. While the fundamental zinc chemistry provides a nominal 1.5 volts, the printing process allows for the creation of multiple cells connected in series within a single, monolithic battery layer. This means a 3V or 4.5V battery can be printed as a single component with just two external contacts, simplifying integration and providing higher voltages without stacking separate cells.
Beyond electrical characteristics, the form factor and even the battery's internal formulation can be modified. The shape can be designed to fit unconventional spaces or even for aesthetic purposes, such as in light-up "tattoo stickers." Furthermore, the chemical formulation of the inks can be fine-tuned to optimize performance for specific use cases, such as increasing conductivity to deliver the higher peak currents required by more demanding applications.
In this short video, you can learn:
* How battery capacity scales with printed area (4-5 mAh/cm²).
* The technique for creating multi-cell, higher-voltage batteries (e.g., 3V) within a single printed layer.
* How ink formulation can be modified to tune performance for high-current applications.
📋 **Clip Abstract** Discover the design freedom offered by printed battery technology. Learn how size, shape, voltage, and even ink formulation can be customized to perfectly match the power requirements of any IoT device.
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#PrintedBatteries, #MultiCellDesign, #ZincChemistry, #InkFormulation, #IoTDevices, #FlexibleElectronics
00:09:31 - 00:11:40
How do you power a cellular transmitter drawing 500mA from a battery with only 50mAh capacity?
How do you power a cellular transmitter drawing 500mA from a battery with only 50mAh capacity?
Powering IoT devices for logistics tracking presents a significant challenge due to the wide range of communication protocols used, each with vastly different power profiles. As a rule of thumb, doubling the communication range requires a four-fold increase in transmission power. This creates a spectrum of demand, from low-power RFID reading a few meters away to high-power cellular (NB-IoT) connecting over kilometers, which places extreme demands on the battery.
The core technical challenge is delivering high peak currents from a very small capacity, single-layer cell. For a cellular transmission, the battery may need to supply a pulse of over half an amp (500mA). For a tiny, thin-film battery with only 50mAh of total capacity, this represents a massive C-rate, which would cause a catastrophic voltage drop if the battery's internal resistance is too high, shutting down the device.
This challenge has driven a significant engineering effort to lower the internal resistance of the printed battery. Because the cells use an aqueous chemistry, traditional metallic current collectors are not always feasible, which naturally leads to higher resistance. Through extensive development, the internal resistance has been reduced by over 50x, from around 100 ohms in early RFID-focused designs to sub-2-ohm performance today, making it possible to power demanding cellular communication modules.
In this short video, you can learn:
* The relationship between communication range and the battery's peak power demand.
* The critical role of internal resistance in delivering high peak currents (e.g., >500mA) without significant voltage drop.
* The engineering journey of reducing internal resistance from over 100 ohms to less than 2 ohms.
📋 **Clip Abstract** A deep dive into the primary technical challenge for printed batteries: internal resistance. Understand why it's critical for high-power IoT applications and how Zinergy has engineered a 50x reduction to enable cellular connectivity.
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#InternalResistance, #ResistanceReduction, #PrintedBattery, #PeakCurrentDelivery, #IoTDevices, #FlexibleElectronics