Despite billions of dollars in investment and the launch of several high-profile startups, the energy sector still faces a fundamental and seemingly insoluble challenge: it’s very hard to store lots of power in a way that’s compact, long-lasting, and low-cost. A growing number of researchers are hoping to solve that with what are known as three-dimensional batteries, which can take several forms but tend to have porous, sponge-like structures, as opposed to the traditional “2-D” form: thin layers of metal in a liquid electrolyte solution inside a box (see “A Stretchable, Bendable and More Powerful Smart Watch Battery” and “Batteries: Cheapest Form of Grid Power?”).
Over the last several months, a startup called Prieto Battery, spun out of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, has succeeded in producing what founder Amy Prieto calls “the first true 3-D battery that can be charged and discharged, and that will hold a charge”—in other words, that fills the basic requirements of a conventional battery. 3-D batteries could be cheaper to make, faster to charge, safer, smaller, and less environmentally toxic than conventional batteries. What’s more, because they can be made lightweight, flexible, and in an almost limitless variety of shapes, they could offer energy storage applications previously unimaginable.
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