Thin-Film Rechargeable Solid-Electrolyte Batteries

A brief description of the basic oxidation-reduction processes taking place in the dry cell is used to show that substitution of solid electrolytes for conventional liquid electrolytes can enhance battery miniaturization potential without sacrifice of shelf life. Previously developed solid-electrolyte batteries, however, exhibited prohibitively high internal resistance. Solid-electrolyte batteries of the type Ag-AgI-Pt, working on concentration-cell rather than conventional oxidation- reduction principles, have significantly lower internal resistance. Such cells can be made quite small (possibly down to 0.002 cm3 per cell), have apparently excellent shelf life, and are operable at 100° C. More- over, they show a recharge capability. In addition, they appear amenable to development effort leading to a thin-film, printable battery with interesting application possibilities.