High-performance fibre battery with polymer gel electrolyte. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38658763/)

These scientists wanted to make batteries that are safe to wear and can bend without breaking. They found that using a special kind of material called polymer gel in the batteries can help with safety and flexibility. But they also discovered that the connection between the polymer gel and the battery parts was not very good, which made the batteries not work as well when they were bent.

So, the scientists came up with a clever idea. They designed the battery parts with tiny channels to help the polymer gel stick better. They made the battery parts like long fibers and twisted them together to create these channels. Then, they filled these channels with the polymer gel material.

When they tested these new batteries, they found that they worked really well and could store a lot of energy. They even made a big piece of fabric that had these special batteries woven into it. These batteries were strong enough to work in very cold and very hot temperatures, and even in outer space!

Overall, these special batteries are very promising for use in places like firefighting and space exploration because they are safe, flexible, and can store a lot of energy.

Lu C., Jiang H., Cheng X., He J., Long Y., Chang Y., Gong X., Zhang K., Li J., Zhu Z., Wu J., Wang J., Zheng Y., Shi X., Ye L., Liao M., Sun X., Wang B., Chen P., Wang Y., Peng H. High-performance fibre battery with polymer gel electrolyte. Nature. 2024 May;629(8010):86-91. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07343-x. Epub 2024 Apr 24.