Thin-film printing could produce solid-state rechargeable battery

Economist : A Florida company, Planar Energy of Orlando, is about to complete a pilot production line that will print lithium-ion batteries onto sheets of metal or plastic, like printing a newspaper. Thin-film printing methods of this sort are already used to make solar cells and display screens, but no one has yet been able to use them on anything like an industrial scale with batteries. The process promises smaller, cheaper, more powerful batteries for consumer electronics and, eventually, for electric cars.