This paper reports the design, fabrication and testing of a three-dimensional zinc-air microbattery with improved areal energy density and areal capacity, particularly at high discharge rates. The device is based on a multilayer, micron-scale, low-resistance metallic skeleton with an improved surface area. This skeleton consists of alternating Cu and Ni layers supporting Zn as electrodeposited anode electrode, and provides a high surface area, low-resistance path for electron transfer. A proof-of-concept zinc-air microbattery based on this technology was developed, characterized and compared with its two-dimensional thin-film counterparts fabricated on the same footprint area with equal amount of the Zn anode electrode. Using this approach, we were able to improve a single-layer initial structure with a surface area of 1.3 mm 2 to a scaffold structure with ten layers having a surface area of 15 mm 2. Discharging through load resistances ranging from 100 to 3000 , the areal energy density and areal capacity of the microbattery were measured as 2.5-3 mWh cm −2 and ∼2.5 mAh cm −2 , respectively.
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