Photo credit: Kai Jacobson
Sand batteries aren’t exactly portable, and that’s why scientists are developing a flexible battery that can be stretched as well as washed. Even when twisted or stretched to twice its normal length, the battery remains fully-functional, thanks to the encased zinc and manganese dioxide being ground into small pieces before being embedded into a rubbery plastic, or polymer.
What Dr. Ngoc Tan Nguyen, along with his team of scientists, discovered was that the several ultra-thin layers of these polymers wrapped inside a casing of the same polymer created an airtight, waterproof seal that ensures the integrity of the battery through repeated use. They even went as far as putting the battery through 39 wash cycles and having it come out unscathed. Now the goal is to increase the battery’s power output and cycle life to create a low-cost, rechargeable version for consumers.
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We put our prototypes through an actual laundry cycle in both home and commercial-grade washing machines. They came out intact and functional and that’s how we know this battery is truly resilient. We went with zinc-manganese because for devices worn next to the skin, it’s a safer chemistry than lithium-ion batteries, which can produce toxic compounds when they break,” says Nguyen,” said Bahar Iranpour, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia.
