Micro Scale Addressable Superhydrophobic Reserved Batteries Using Nanostructed Materials

This paper presents the details of a novel battery architecture based on superhydrophobic nanostructured materials. Both electrodes of a battery are formed on nanostructured silicon surfaces that are subsequently treated to make them superhydrophobic, effectively separating the liquid electrolyte from the active electrode materials. A phenomenon called electrowetting that promotes electrolyte penetration into the electrode space to initiate an electrochemical reaction is used to activate the battery to provide power on demand. This architecture makes possible an extremely long shelf life, instantaneous ramp-up to full power, and chemistryindependent functionality.