The realization of next-generation portable electronics, medical implants and miniaturized, autonomous microsystems is directly linked with the development of compact and efficient power sources and energy storage devices with high energy and power density. As the components of these devices are continuously scaled down in size, there is a growing demand for decreasing the size of their power supply as well, while maintaining performance comparable to larger assemblies.

This dissertation presents a novel approach for the development of microbattery electrodes that is based on integrating both micro and nano structured components for the formation of hierarchical electrodes. These electrodes combine both high energy density (enabled by the high surface area and mass loading) with high power density (due to the small thickness of the active battery materials). The key building block technologies in this work are the bottom-up self-assembly and metallization of a biological template and the top-down microfabrication processes enabled by Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) technology. The biotemplate used is the Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a rod-like particle that can be genetically modified to express functional groups with enhanced metal binding properties. In this project, this feature is combined with standard microfabrication techniques for the synthesis of nanostructured energy-related materials as well as their hierarchical patterning in device architectures. Specifically, synthesis of anode (TiO2) and cathode (V2O5) materials for Li-ion batteries in a core/shell configuration is presented, where the TMV biomineralization is combined with atomic layer deposition of the active material. These nanostructured electrodes demonstrate high energy storage capacities, high rate capabilities and superior performance to electrodes with planar geometries. In addition, a toolbox of biofabrication processes for the defined patterning of virus-templated structures has been developed. Finally, the nanocomposite electrodes are integrated with three-dimensional micropillars to form hierarchical electrodes that maintain the high rate performance capabilities of nanomaterials while exhibiting an increase in energy density compared to nanostructures alone. This is in accordance with the increase in surface area added by the microstructures. Investigation of capacity scaling for varying active material thickness reveals underlying limitations in nanostructured electrodes and highlights the importance of this method in controlling both energy and power density with structural hierarchy. These results present a paradigm-shifting technology for the fabrication of next-generation microbatteries for MEMS and microsystems applications.