3D Printing‐Enabled Design and Manufacturing Strategies for Batteries: A Review

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have significantly impacted the daily lives, finding broad applications in various industries such as consumer electronics, electric vehicles, medical devices, aerospace, and power tools. However, they still face issues (i.e., safety due to dendrite propagation, manufacturing cost, random porosities, and basic & planar geometries) that hinder their widespread applications as the demand for LIBs rapidly increases in all sectors due to their high energy and power density values compared to other batteries. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising technique for creating precise and programmable structures in energy storage devices. This review first summarizes light, filament, powder, and jetting-based 3D printing methods with the status on current trends and limitations for each AM technology. The paper also delves into 3D printing-enabled electrodes (both anodes and cathodes) and solid-state electrolytes for LIBs, emphasizing the current state-of-the-art materials, manufacturing methods, and properties/performance. Additionally, the current challenges in the AM for electrochemical energy storage (EES) applications, including limited materials, low processing precision, codesign/comanufacturing concepts for complete battery printing, machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI) for processing optimization and data analysis, environmental risks, and the potential of 4D printing in advanced battery applications, are also presented

GENERATION OF WIND POWER USING HELICAL STRUCTURED BLADES BY THE CONCEPT OF “WIND TREE”

Power requirements of the world are ever increasing. In order to fulfill these, it is essential to discover new energy sources or rather improvise the existing techniques for extracting maximum energy. The Wind tree is a concept that uses a helical blade (VAWT) for generation of electric power. The helical blade is Omni-directional which means it is capable of rotating irrespective of the wind flow. The project aims at generating electricity by means of small wafts of air that circulate around the buildings and streets. Despite of the wind being fluctuating in nature; the turbine is capable of generating electricity, as a small waft of air is sufficient to rotate this turbine

Generation of Wind Power Using Helical Structured Blades by the Concept of “Wind Tree”

Power requirements of the world are ever increasing. In order to fulfill these, it is essential to discover new energy sources or rather improvise the existing techniques for extracting maximum energy. The Wind tree is a concept that uses a helical blade (VAWT) for generation of electric power. The helical blade is Omni-directional which means it is capable of rotating irrespective of the wind flow. The project aims at generating electricity by means of small wafts of air that circulate around the buildings and streets. Despite of the wind being fluctuating in nature; the turbine is capable of generating electricity, as a small waft of air is sufficient to rotate this turbine

Crosslinked Polyethylene (XLPE), Recycling via Foams

International audienceEfficient recycling of crosslinked polyethylene has been challenging due to manufacturing difficulties caused by chemical crosslinking. This study focuses on simple processing via solid waste powder generation and particle fining for the subsequent crosslinked polyethylene inclusion and dispersion in rigid polyurethane foam. In addition, the concentration effects of crosslinked polyethylene in polyurethane were studied, showing a well-controlled foam microstructure with uniform pores, retained strength, better thermal degradation resistance, and, more importantly, increased thermal capabilities. Thus, the simple mechanical processing of crosslinked polyethylene and chemical urethane foaming showed the massive potential of recycling large amounts of crosslinked polyethylene in foams for broad applications in food packaging, house insulation, and sound reduction

Continuous Nanoparticle Patterning Strategy in Layer-Structured Nanocomposite Fibers

Anisotropic polymer/nanoparticle composites display unique mechanical, thermal, electrical, and optical properties depending on confirmation and configuration control of the composing elements. Processes, such as vapor deposition, ice-templating, nanoparticle self-assembly, additive manufacturing, or layer-by-layer casting, are explored to design and control nanoparticle microstructures with desired anisotropy or isotropy. However, limited attempts are made toward nanoparticle patterning during continuous fiber spinning due to the thin-diameter cross section and 1D features. Thus, this research focuses on a new patterning technique to form ordered nanoparticle assembly in layered composite fibers. As a result, distinct layers can be retained with innovative tool design, unique material combinations, and precise rheology control during fiber spinning. The layer multiplying-enabled nanoparticle patterning is demonstrated in a few material systems, including polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-boron nitride (BN)/PVA, polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-aluminum (Al)/PAN, and PVA-BN/graphene nanoplatelet (GNP)/PVA systems. This approach demonstrates an unprecedentedly reported fiber manufacturing platform for well-managed layer dimensions and nanoparticle manipulations with directional thermal and electrical properties that can be utilized in broad applications, including structural supports, heat exchangers, electrical conductors, sensors, actuators, and soft robotics.W.X. and R.F. contributed equally to this work. This work was funded by the Global Sports Institute (GSI) at Arizona State University and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF, EAGER 1902172).Scopu