Publication date: 15th December 2025
The accelerating miniaturization of electronics has created a pressing need for equally small yet powerful energy sources that can sustain autonomous microsystems and robotic devices at sub-millimeter scales. While most battery research has focused on large-scale systems—from consumer electronics to electric vehicles and the grid—the challenge of delivering energy to sub-millimeter devices remains largely unresolved. Zinc-based batteries present a compelling solution: they are stable in air, inherently safe, and seamlessly compatible with microfabrication processes, offering distinct advantages over conventional lithium systems when scaled down.
Despite these advantages, realizing high-energy-density storage below 1 mm2 has been limited by both materials constraints and architectural bottlenecks. Our research addresses these barriers by introducing micro-origami fabrication, where thin-film layers are folded into compact Swiss-roll structures. This strategy has enabled zinc batteries that shatter the footprint boundary of 1 mm2, achieving capacities above 1 mAh cm-2 and reaching into the deep-submillimeter regime (< 0.1 mm2). Equally important, advances in photolithographable polymer electrolytes now extend cycling stability, opening a pathway to long-lived energy storage directly integrated on-chip.
Beyond storage, new chemistries—such as cathode-free concepts, halogen cathodes, and decoupled electrolytes—are beginning to expand the functional space of zinc microbatteries. In parallel, coupling these devices with micro-actuators demonstrates how zinc ion dynamics can be harnessed not only for powering but also for driving motion. Together, these developments point toward a new class of functional microsystems where actuation and energy storage are intertwined, providing a blueprint for the next generation of intelligent machines at sub-millimeter scales.
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