Want to Know What Pliable, Printable, Free-Form Lithium-Ion Batteries Are?
A team of researchers from Korea has recently come up with a new battery made of lithium that can be used to power soft, wearable electronics. Free-form lithium-ion batteries have been in development for some time now. Still, researchers have only recently started to print them on clothing or utilize them in digital wearable devices.
The new batteries are based on lithium-ion phosphate, a material that can be used for high-efficiency and rechargeable batteries. This new battery is flexible and can be bent without breaking, making it ideal for use in soft wearable devices such as artificial skin or smart clothing. The new battery is much safer than other lithium-ion batteries because it does not catch fire when damaged or punctured.
Researchers’ Experiment
Wearable high-tech devices that can be worn for long periods, including smart bands, implantable electronic devices like pacemakers, and soft wearables, are now more popular than ever. To develop the flexible battery, the team had to ensure that the battery cells were soft and stretchable.
To maximize the stretchability of their free-form lithium-ion batteries, the researchers removed unnecessary material from the battery’s components. So, the scientists developed a new soft and stretchable adhesive using an elastic organic gel material. Electrodes can be held in place, and ions can be transferred more easily with this material. An ink with exquisite stretchability and gas abrasion resistance was developed and used to create conductive ink. Due to electrolyte absorption, the conductive ink functions as both, a current collector and an encapsulant, remaining stable even at high voltages and in various deformed states.
Scientists printed them onto various clothing items to test the battery’s viability. The researchers created a flexible and printable lithium battery that includes the anode, cathode, collector, electrolytes, and encapsulant. The team’s new battery can be contorted into various shapes, which opens up some interesting possibilities in how we might use it.
Why Are These Batteries Better Than Conventional Ones?
Free-form lithium-ion batteries are a breakthrough in wearable technology because they offer many advantages over traditional batteries:
- Flexibility – They can be printed on fabric or paper and rolled into a tube shape to make them portable to wear around your wrist or ankle.
- Lightweight – They weigh very less, which means they won’t make your clothes bulky or heavy when you are wearing them.
- Durability – Their thickness means they will not break easily if you bend them or roll them over something sharp like a rock or tree branch while walking in the woods during an outdoor adventure.
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We are excited about this development for its bendable capabilities, even if it can appear thick and bulky. Researchers are working tirelessly to make battery life better, faster, and longer-lasting. It also opens a wide array of possibilities for the applications in which these lithium-ion batteries could be used, including medical devices, wearable electronics, and flexible solar panels.
The Future is Now
At the very least, this development is noteworthy and will help future power advancements in battery technology. To get more updates regarding the advancement of these lithium-ion batteries, subscribe to our newsletter.
