This soft, stretchable battery can soon power your wearables
In a major development, engineers at Stanford have come up with a new soft and stretchable battery for electronics. The unit, created with a special kind of plastic, can lead to the development of flexible wearables that can bend with our bodies while being safer than the rigid, flammable batteries in use today. Here's all about it.
Rigid batteries restricting wearable development
Even though we have plenty of smart or 'connected' gadgets to play with, the category of wearables is advancing slowly. The reason being: rigid and bulky batteries that have to be placed inside wearables to keep them running. They offer sufficient juice to the devices but bring several design constraints and safety risks at the same time.
How currently-used batteries pose safety risk?
The Lithium-ion batteries that are used in wearables store gel-like polymers as electrolytes, the energy source that transports negative ions to the positive pole. This liquid is flammable in nature, which increases the risk of unexpected leaks or fires from overcharging or excessive heating.
However, Stanford engineers have come up with a solution
To tackle these problems, Stanford engineers have developed a battery that performs the same function of storing energy but stretches like a piece of gum and is far safer than the conventional batteries. The unit, as the engineers explained, was brought to life by creating a solid, stretchable polymer - instead of the leaky one - that could carry electric charge between the poles.
Battery worked perfectly in tests
In various lab tests, the novel battery worked just like the regular one - but without its downsides. The team said that it maintained constant power output even when squeezed, folded and stretched to nearly twice its original length. This means it can make an ideal energy solution to support new wearable designs, be it a smartwatch, smart band or connected jacket.
Bio sensors could also be improved
Along with mainstream wearables, the stretchable battery can also lead to the development of small biosensors that can stick to the body and monitor heart-rate and other vitals in real time.
Energy density needs to be improved
Having said that, it is imperative to note that the novel battery holds half as much power as a regular battery of the same size. The team, however, is working on a way to tackle this problem and build larger versions of the stretchable battery with more energy density. Once that's done, the upgraded unit would be tested in real-world environments.
