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The bottom of a skateboard bearing the words, “girl is not a 4 letter word.” The word “girl” is gold in a pink heart and the “o” in “word” is a drawing of a skull. The other words are black with a strikethrough the word “not.” Cindy Whitehead’s signature is on the tail of the board.

Prototype “Girl is Not a 4 Letter Word” skateboard, created by Cindy Whitehead, 2013. © Smithsonian Institution; photo JN2014-5042 by Jaclyn Nash

Amy Prieto in her lab at Colorado State University. She is smiling at the camera and holding a tiny prototype battery with long wire leads. Assorted chemical experimentation equipment is visible in the background. She has shoulder length, curly, sandy blonde hair and wears glasses.

Amy Prieto

April 18, 2019 by Joyce Bedi

The word “inventor” may conjure images of men like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, but the history of women inventors is as long as that of their male counterparts.

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Amy Prieto

Colombian-born inventor Amy Prieto’s research on new, fast-charging, long-lasting, and green rechargeable batteries. She joined the Colorado State University (CSU) chemistry department in 2005 after completing doctoral and post-doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University. She says that she was attracted to CSU because of the culture of collaboration there, with an openness to sharing resources and knowledge that she believes is crucial to her work.

Prieto founded her company, Prieto Battery, in 2009 to take the battery from research to prototype to commercialization. Still in development, the heart of the battery is a thin slice of copper “foam” that, like a sponge, is full of holes. This 3-dimensional structure increases the amount of surface areaand allows lithium ions to move more freely and over shorter distances than in conventional batteries that are assembled in flat layers. Prieto explains that “the ions can go in many different directions, but they don’t have to go very far.”

In addition, Prieto’s solid-state battery contains none of the toxic or flammable liquid components found in traditional batteries. “As part of our mission to deliver a battery that can be used by the masses,” the company asserts, “Prieto is working to develop a process that is cost competitive and friendly to the environment.” This includes water-based manufacturing using citric acid (a common natural preservative) and a standard electroplating process.

artifacts-batteries-prieto-amy-rws2014-03057-inline-edit.jpg

Prototypes of several batteries invented by Amy Prieto are displayed on a vertical black wooden board

Prototype Prieto batteries, 2014. The board holds several different types of cells for testing. Electrodes made with different combinations of copper foil, copper foam, and copper antimony are at the left. Standard paint sample color cards (center) are used to compare tests of the copper antimony substrate. A piece of copper foam is at the right. © 2014 Smithsonian Institution; photo by Richard Strauss

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  • Woman’s Building, 1893 World’s Fair

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