From our cell phones to our smartwatches and laptops, were surrounded by battery-powered devices.
Embracing this idea, researchers in Sweden have developed a fluid battery that can be shaped into different forms.
The novel soft structure paves the way for innovative designs of future battery-powered technology.
Researchers have developed a soft, malleable battery.© both images by Thor Balkhed.
Batteries are the largest component of all electronics.
Today they are solid and quite bulky.
But with a soft and conformable battery, there are no design limitations.
The soft battery has the texture of toothpaste. © Thor Balkhed.
The texture is a bit like toothpaste.
The key to Rahmanudin and his colleagues success was converting electrodes into a liquid form.
To understand the significance of this achievement, its important to remember how batteries actually work.
Simply put, anelectrochemical batteryconsists of two different metals, or electrodes: an anode and a cathode.
Larger batteries have greater electrical capacity, but also thickerand hence more rigidelectrodes.
Prior attempts at developing fluid electrodesrelied on liquid metals that sometimes solidified, according to the statement.
The resulting battery can be recharged over 500 times, even when stretched to twice its original length.
Furthermore, since the materials in the battery are conjugated polymers and lignin, the raw materials are abundant.
Moving forward, the team hopes to improve the batterys electrical voltage.
We have shown that the concept works but the performance needs to be improved.
The voltage is currently 0.9 volts, Rahmanudin explained.
So now well look at using other chemical compounds to increase the voltage.
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