Washington, Nov 11 (IANS): Researchers in the US have invented a battery that is so small that a billon of them could be crammed into a space the size of a postage stamp.

The structure called nanopore was invented by researchers at the University of Maryland in the US and could result in the ultimate miniaturization of energy storage components, the researchers said.

A tiny hole in a ceramic sheet holds the electrolyte to carry the electrical charge between nanotube electrodes at either end.

Though still a test device, the microscopic battery performs well.

"It can be fully charged in 12 minutes and can be recharged thousands of times," said Chanyuan Liu, lead researcher from the University of Maryland.

Researchers believe this unit has great potential as its size allows packing of the tiny thin batteries together efficiently.

The scientists have identified improvements to make the next version of the battery 10 times more powerful.