140 meters! The birth of the world's longest flexible fiber battery The research team surprised Apple engineers

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Recently, researchers announced the development of a special rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which exists in the form of ultra-long fibers and can be woven into fabric. This battery can be used in a variety of wearable electronic devices, and even to make 3D printed batteries of almost any shape.

The researchers believe that the application of this battery is extremely wide, including self-powered communication, sensing and computing devices, etc., so that the device can be worn like ordinary clothes, and the battery can also be used as a structural component.

The study was published in Materials today. In the proof-of-concept, the research team fabricated the world's longest flexible fiber battery, up to 140 meters long, demonstrating that the material could be manufactured to any length.

The paper's lead authors include MIT postdoc Kudiev (now assistant professor at the National University of Singapore), former MIT postdoc Jung Tae Lee (now a professor at Kyung Hee University), and Benjamin Grena (currently at Apple). Other co-authors include MIT professors Yoel Fink, Ju Li, John Joannopoulos, and seven other MIT and other university professors.

This new fiber battery is made with a new battery gel and a standard fiber stretching system, starting with a large cylinder containing all the components and then heating it just below the melting point. The material compresses all parts to a fraction of their original diameter through a narrow opening, while maintaining all the original arrangements of the parts.

Khudiyev said that while there have been attempts to make batteries in the form of fibers, these batteries are made up of key materials on the outside of the fibers, and this new system embeds lithium and other materials inside the fibers and coats them with a protective coating on the outside, directly making this version of the battery stable and waterproof. He said this is the first demonstration of a fiber optic battery with a length of less than 1 km, which is both long enough and very durable to be used in practical applications.

He argues that the fact that a 140-meter-long fiber battery was made suggests that "there is no apparent upper limit to the length." We can definitely do a kilometer-scale length. A demonstration device using a new type of fiber-optic battery consists of a "Li-Fi" communication system in which light pulses are used to transmit data and includes a microphone, preamplifier, transistor, and diode to establish an optical data link between the two fabric devices.

So far, he said, the 140-meter-long fiber has 123 milliampere hours of energy storage capability that could charge a smartwatch or a mobile phone. In addition, the thickness of this fiber device is only a few hundred microns, which is thinner than any previous attempt to produce batteries in the form of fibers.

The team has filed a patent for the process and continues to make further improvements in power capacity and materials for efficiency gains. The researchers say the fiber battery will be used in commercial products within a few years.

Forward-looking Economist APP Information Group

Source:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369702121004077?via%3Dihub