3D-Printing of a Lemon Battery via Fused Deposition Modelling and Electrodeposition

Abstract

This paper introduces the fabrication of a lemon battery enabled through Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) with commercially available filaments in combination with electrodeposition. The battery consists of a printed polylactic acid (PLA) structure with two 3D-printed, conductive polymer composite electrodes with a layer of deposited copper and zinc, immersed into a citric acid electrolyte. The current battery shows a capacity of at least 0.23 mWh, where the high internal resistance of around 310 ohms still poses a performance issue. The combined FDM and electrodeposition fabrication method presents a first step towards fabrication of arbitrarily shaped batteries without the need for parts assembly or chemical treatment of filaments, potentially powering co-printed electronics.