Elastic battery stretches to three times its size
FEB 27, 2013
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026805
BBC : A research team led by John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed a stretchable, bendable battery. As explained in their article published yesterday in Nature Communications, the researchers embedded tiny circuit elements in a stretchy polymer. Then they connected those elements with wires arranged in a serpentine pattern such that as the polymer is stretched, the wires straighten out. The material was elastic enough that it could be stretched to three times its normal size. In addition, the battery can be recharged wirelessly over a short distance. Because flexible electronics are already being developed, a reliable and flexible battery is needed to power them. Among the many possible applications, elastic batteries could be used in medical monitoring devices attached to a patient’s skin.
© 2013 American Institute of Physics
