Welcome to ESTRELLA

High-resolution multi-material additive manufacturing (AM), also called 3D-printing, has the potential to revolutionize the fabrication of energy storage devices and electronics including the widely used lithium-ion batteries for portable and transportation applications. Relegated to two-dimensional (2D) sheets, commercial lithium-ion batteries consist of stacked leaflets, which are only manufactured in restricted geometries. By leveraging the most recent advancements of AM, next-generation shape-conformable 3D batteries (fig. 1a) can be co-designed together with the system, so that dead-volume and weight are minimized while power performance (fig. 1b) and safety are enhanced. Our current investigations at UTEP are mainly dedicated to the development of lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery components such as negative and positive electrodes, separator, electrolyte, current collectors and casing that can be tailored with any shape, therefore allowing the future direct incorporation of batteries and all electronics within a complex three-dimensional object. The transformative goal of the project is the development of intricately-detailed 3D printed complete energy storage devices through innovative AM-based routes: Vat photopolymerization techniques, powder bed fusion, binder jetting, material extrusion. The development of a fully printed demonstrator cell with a three-dimensional architecture of the battery is an ambitious target objective. This interdisciplinary project is led by two full time post-doctoral researchers, Alexis Maurel PhD (US State Department Fulbright Fellowship from France) and Ana C. Martinez PhD from Mexico, both hosted by Dr. Eric MacDonald, Mechanical Engineering and in close collaboration with Dr. Sreeprasad Sreenivasan from the Chemistry Department. As part of this effort, the team was recently awarded $615k from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with a view to 3D print sodium-ion batteries from Lunar and Martian regolith. The team is also collaborating with other US and international partners including Sandia National Laboratories, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Youngstown State University, the Université de Picardie Jules Verne (France).