The development was made by a research team at KIMM’s Department of Nano-Mechanics. The battery is expected to have a wide range of uses including for wearables and soft robotics.
The research team, led by senior researcher Dr Bongkyun Jang and principal researcher Seungmin Hyun at the Department of Nano-Mechanics, developed the stretchable battery structure which is based on the structure of snake scales.
According to the team it has excellent stability and performance: “Unlike conventional wearable devices, in which the device’s frame and the battery are combined in a tight formation, this new technology enables flexible movement by connecting several small, hard batteries in a scale-like structure,” the team reported in a news release.
Above: The flexible, stretchable battery is not only capable of conformably attaching to the shape of the human body, but it can also morph freely to match the wearer’s movement.
Designing the shape of the battery cell and the connecting components were the key aspects of this technological achievement, according to KIMM. Small, hexagonal battery cells, resembling snake scales related to polymer and copper material that use a hinge mechanism to fold and unfold. This design also facilitates economical mass-production because the battery can be made by cutting and folding flexible electrodes with a manufacturing process inspired by the art of origami.
Above: Using the stretchable battery test machine with temperature and environment control units, Dr Bongkyun Jang tested the reliability of the battery under mechanical deformation.
In the future, the KIMM research team hopes to develop technology that can increase the storage capacity of soft energy storage devices. The team also hopes to develop multi-functional soft robots that combine artificial muscles with soft robot actuation technology.
KIMM is a non-profit government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT in Korea. Since its foundation in 1976, KIMM has undertaken R&D on key technologies in machinery and materials for consumer electronics, conducting reliability test evaluation, and commercializing the developed products and technologies.
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Lead image: Dr Bongkyun Jang at the KIMM Department of Nano-Mechanics checking the status of electrode-structures for producing the stretchable snake scale-like battery.