Gallery: This Harvard Prof's Printed Batteries Could Revolutionize Our Gadgets
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Harvard professor Jennifer Lewis has spent the last couple decades working on a series of smart "inks" that allow designers to create bespoke batteries and electrical contacts using entry-level 3-D printers. *Photo: The Lewis Lab, Harvard University*
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In Lewis' system, batteries and electrical traces are specified alongside plastic components. By adding custom syringes—with barrels just microns wide—to RepRap style 3-D printers, the batteries, traces, and plastic shell can be printed simultaneously. *Photo: The Lewis Lab, Harvard University*
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One of Lewis' breakthroughs was developing an ink that was solid, but liquifies under pressure at room temperature, allowing it to be deposited on plastic, as in the case of this custom antenna. *Photo: The Lewis Lab, Harvard University*
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A couple of Lewis' former students created a [spin-off company](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/electroninks/circuit-scribe-draw-circuits-instantly) that puts her conductive inks into a pen that allows designers to sketch functional electronic schematics on paper and control lights, buzzers, and other gizmos by doodling. *Photo: The Lewis Lab, Harvard University*
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Despite having the ability to 3-D print batteries and create playful proof of concept demonstrations like the pen, Lewis is clear that highly complex devices are still a ways off. "I have a healthy dose of skepticism for anyone that says we'll print a functional cellphone in the next five years." *Photo: The Lewis Lab, Harvard University*
