Posted on Wednesday, February 27 2013 @ 13:58 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created a flat battery that can stretch to three times its size without a loss in performance. The concept uses small power cells dotted on a stretchy polymer.
You can find out more
at BBC News.
The study also suggests the batteries can be recharged wirelessly.
In a sense, the battery is a latecomer to the push toward flexible, stretchable electronics. A number of applications have been envisioned for flexible devices, from implantable health monitors to roll-up displays.
But consumer products that fit the bendy, stretchy description are still very few - in part, because there have been no equally stretchy, rechargeable power sources for them.
"Batteries are particularly challenging because, unlike electronics, it's difficult to scale down their dimensions without significantly reducing performance," said senior author of the study John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
