Flexible batteries can stretch 5,000%

Flexible batteries can stretch 5,000% Picture 1

Batteries are often hard blocks that are difficult to puncture and bend, making them unsuitable for flexible devices like rollable phones, rollable displays and wearable fitness trackers. These devices require improved batteries to provide power.

Previously, some scientists have also tried to create flexible batteries using conductive fabric and the art of origami. However, the team of Professor Wen-Yong Lai - the head of the research - wants to create a flexible battery in which all components are elastic, making the battery truly malleable, not breaking even if pressed into any shape. what form?

First, the researchers spread a thin film of conductive adhesive on a flat plate containing silver nanowires, carbon black, and lithium-based anode and cathode materials. They then coated the conductive adhesive with a layer of polydimethylsiloxane, a highly flexible material used in contact lenses.

Finally, they added a highly conductive liquid, lithium salts and all the necessary materials to create a polymer with significant stretchability. This layer is then activated by light, becoming a solid that can both transport lithium ions and be stretchable. On top, is another layer of electrode film and encases the entire device in a protective cover.

As a result, researchers have successfully created a new type of flexible battery that can be stretched up to 5,000% of its original length, with an average charging capacity 6 times greater than the average when using liquid electrolyte. liquid. After 70 charge-discharge cycles, the battery still retains good capacity.

Although the new battery is still not perfect and needs more improvements, the success of the battery prototype helps pave the way for the application of flexible batteries for electronic devices.

Kareem Winters

Update 19 July 2024