Patent ID: 7763382

Claim:
A bipolar article, the article comprising: (a) a housing comprising an inside surface; wherein the inside surface has an arbitrary form factor which is not cylindrical or prismatic; (b) a bipolar structure comprising a cathode current collector, an anode current collector, an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte in contact with and separating the anode and cathode; wherein the anode and cathode are interpenetrating; the cathode current collector is in electronic communication with the cathode; and the anode current collector is in electronic communication with the anode; wherein the bipolar structure as a whole has an arbitrary form that is not cylindrical or prismatic; and at least one of the cathode, the anode, and their respective current collectors is conformal to the inside surface of the housing; wherein the anode and cathode are self-assembling networks of particles disposed in the electrolyte; and wherein the cathode current collector is attractive to the cathode network and repulsive to the anode network, and the anode current collector is attractive to the anode network and repulsive to the cathode network.