The researchers develop a soft battery that has the consistency of toothpaste

From our mobile phones to our smart hours and laptops, we are surrounded by battery powers. Today, the batteries are solid ingredients, huge of our technique – but what if it could be flexible, flexible and even printable?

Embrace this idea, researchers in Sweden have developed a liquid battery that can be formed in various forms. As is detailed in a Ticket The battery was published on April 11 in the magazine of Science, which uses electrodes – the materials connected to the batteries – in liquid form. The new soft structure paves the way for innovative battery -powered technology designs.

“The batteries are the largest component in all electronics. Today is very solid and huge. But with a soft and congruent battery, there are no restrictions on design. It can be combined into the electronics in a completely different way and adapted to the user.” statement. “The texture is somewhat similar to toothpaste. The material can be used, for example, in a 3D printer to form a battery as you like.”

According to the statement, the previous attempts to achieve soft batteries are based on mechanical features such as sliding connections or rare materials required environmentally harmful to processing. The key to the success of the Rahmandin and its colleagues was to convert the electrodes into a liquid shape.

To understand the importance of this achievement, it is important to remember how the batteries already work. Simply, and Chemical battery It consists of two different minerals, or electrodes: anode and cathode. Chemical reaction causes Electrons to flow From annex to cathode – a process that we call electricity – which can work while moving, such as operating the lamp or device. Large batteries have more electric capacity, but they are also thicker – thus more solid – electrodes.

“We are the first to show that the capacity is independent of hardness,” said the Rahmandin, a research commander in a soft electronics group at Lincocoking University at the organic electronics laboratory.

Previous attempts to develop fluid poles Depends on liquid minerals that sometimes be happy, according to the statement. To bypass these problems, the team used the plastic materials capable of making electricity – called interconnected polymers – and Lignin, a waste product in paper production. The resulting battery can be recharged more than 500 times, even when it extends to twice its original length.

Moreover, “since the materials in the battery are the accompanying polymers and ligrin, the raw materials are abundant. By reshaping a secondary product such as the ligain in a high -value commodity, says Muhasal Muhammad, which is composed of circular studies and postdoctology for the link. Moving forward, the team hopes to improve the voltage of the battery.

“We have shown that the concept works but the performance must be improved. The effort is currently 0.9 volts,” explained. For comparison, Standard AA batteries It ranges between 1.2 and 1.5 volts, and Most smartphones It works between 3.7 and 4.2 volts. “So we will now consider the use of other chemical compounds to increase the voltage.”

By literally breaking the template, the study opens the door to a completely new world of design capabilities for battery -powered devices.