At a set of labs on the University of Texas at El Paso campus, researchers say they have figured out how to 3D-print a key battery component into almost any shape, potentially freeing future gadgets from the tyranny of the rectangular cell. Instead of building devices around boxy batteries, designers could one day tuck power into structural parts and odd corners, all powered by a printable gel polymer electrolyte developed in El Paso.
The work centers on gel polymer electrolytes, the ion-carrying material inside lithium batteries. In a paper in Communications Engineering, the research team describes using vat photopolymerization to turn a UV-curable resin mixed with a lithium-based liquid electrolyte into a 3D-printable gel that still behaves like a proper battery material. The paper lists Alexis Maurel as lead author and notes collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories on the project.
How the Printable Electrolyte Works
According to TechXplore, the team combined a PEGDA-based resin with a 1 M LiClO4 liquid electrolyte, then cured the mix layer by layer. The resulting gels can be printed in ordinary lab air, which makes the workflow a lot less fussy than glovebox-only approaches.
Researchers tried several resin-to-electrolyte ratios before landing on a sweet spot of about 1:4 by volume. That blend struck the best balance between being easy to print and letting ions move freely. With that recipe, they were able to produce cleanly printed discs and open lattices that held their shape after printing.
Performance That Stacks Up
The printed gels reached ionic conductivities as high as 3.4 × 10⁻³ S·cm⁻¹ and showed electrochemical stability up to about 4.5 volts, according to the results presented in Communications Engineering. Symmetric-cell tests confirmed stable lithium plating and stripping over 100 cycles.
The authors report that this performance is close to what you get from tape-cast electrolytes made by conventional methods. That suggests the printed material could replace or supplement liquid electrolytes in some battery formats, without asking engineers to sacrifice too much on the performance side.
Local Lab, Next Steps
To show the idea in action, UTEP researchers printed simple disks, an open honeycomb lattice, and a solid cube, then ran electrochemical tests on the samples. Next on the agenda is tweaking and refining the formulations so these printable electrolytes can be built into full battery cells, as reported by KVIA.
"For years, the shape of a battery has dictated the shape of the device it powers," Maurel told KVIA, adding that being able to print an electrolyte "almost anywhere you want" could open new design paths for wearables, medical devices, and aerospace parts.
Why It Matters Beyond El Paso
UTEP frames the work as part of a larger push into additive manufacturing for energy technologies. The university’s Estrella Lab and related groups are already working on multi-material printing and leading a NASA-funded effort to produce sodium-ion batteries from lunar and Martian regolith, according to UTEP Newsfeed.
The paper itself notes that turning printable electrolytes into durable, high-energy commercial cells will require more testing and serious scale-up work. Coverage by TechXplore underscores that point, reminding readers that while the shapes may be futuristic, the tech still has to survive the grind of real-world use before it starts quietly powering the gadgets of tomorrow.
