Micro electrochemical energy storage cells

A thin-film micro-electrochemical energy storage cell (MEESC) in the form of a microbattery, said microbattery comprising:

• a substrate having two surfaces,
• a thin layer anode consisting of alkali metal (M), alkali metal alloy or in the charged state consisting of lithiated carbon or graphite,
• a thin layer cathode consisting of LiCoO2, LiNiO2, LiMn2O4, TiS2, V2O5, V3O8 or lithiated forms of the vanadium oxides,
• a solid electrolyte intermediate to said anode and cathode layers, consisting of a tin layer of an ionically conducting or electronically non-conducting material selected from glass, poly(ethylene oxide) based polymer electrolyte or polycrystalline material, and
• optionally, a fourth current collector layer;
• said anode or cathode layer being deposited in sequence on both surfaces of said substrate, said microbattery being characterized in that the substrate is provided with a plurality of through cavities of arbitrary shape, with an aspect ratio greater than 1, the diameter of said cavities being from about 15μ to about 150μ;
• said anode, cathode, solid electrolyte layers and optional current collector layer being also deposited throughout the inner surface of said cavities.