Fabrication and Characterization of Nanobattery Systems
Megan Papenfuss and Dale Teeters*
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Tulsa,
City, State, etc., Postal code
This is an abstract
for a presentation given at the
Eighth
Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.
There will be a link from here to the full article when it is
available on the web.
This work involves the fabrication of battery systems that have electrode surface areas ranging from 1 micron to less then 100 nm. These nanobattery systems will be made using porous membrane technology. This porous membrane technology has already created membranes that contain pores between 1 micron and 10 nm in diameter. We have successfully filled these pores with polymer electrolyte materials using two different methods: by extruding the molten polymer through the membrane and by using capillary forces to "pull" the liquid, molten polymer through the pores. The next step in the fabrication of the nanobattery system is to place the electrodes on the polymer electrolyte-filled-pores. We have developed a liquid emulsion/suspension of electrode particles having a particle size that will just cover the membrane pores. The optimum size of these particles makes them ideal for becoming the electrodes for the nanobattery systems. The positioning of the particles over the openings will be monitored by using atomic force microscopy, AFM. Likewise, the charging of the system will be done using a current-sensing AFM. Here, an electrically conducting cantilever tip will be touched to the nanoelectrode, a current will be applied, and the system will be charged. The AFM tip touching the electrode will then be used to monitor the voltage output of the system and other electrochemical characteristics.
*Corresponding Address:
Dale Teeters
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Tulsa
600 S. College Ave
Tulsa, OK 74104 USA
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://chem78.chem.utulsa.edu/chemistry/faculty/teeters/
|