Now, MIT researchers have developed a rechargeable 140 meters long battery fiber that could be woven into fabrics. The battery could enable a wide variety of wearable electronic devices, allow custom creation of 3D-printed batteries and also increase the possibilities for self-powered communications, sensing, and computational devices that could be worn like ordinary clothing. The self powered fiber battery, which is also wearable and washable, is manufactured using novel battery gels. A fiber drawing system that starts with a large cylinder contains all the components and heats it to below its melting point. The material is then drawn through a narrow opening to compress all the parts to a fraction of their original diameter while maintaining all the original part arrangements.
According to Tural Khudiyev postdoc at MIT, in contrast to earlier fiber batteries that were structured with key materials on the outside, the new system embeds lithium and other materials including a Hi-fi communications system for data transmission using light pulses, microphone, pre-amp, transistor, and diodes inside the fiber, with a protective, waterproof coating outside.
“There’s no obvious upper limit to the length (of the fiber). We could definitely do a kilometer scale length,” he says.
Such materials are beneficial for establishing an optical data link between two woven fabric devices.
“When we embed the active materials inside the fiber, that means sensitive battery components already have a good sealing,” Khudiyev says, “and all the active materials are very well-integrated, so they don’t change their position” during the drawing process.
Large Power
When it comes to energy storage capacity, the 100 microns thick long fiber has 123 milliamp hour storage, sufficient to charge smartwatches or phones.
“The beauty of our approach is that we can embed multiple devices in an individual fiber, (which is) unlike other approaches needing integration of multiple fiber devices,” said Jung tae lee, a former postdoc at MIT.
He believes more than three or four devices can be combined in such a small space in the future, helping realize compact fabric computing.
Increased Efficiency and Future Work:- In addition to individual one-dimensional fibers, which can be woven to produce two-dimensional fabrics, the new flexible material can also be used in 3D printing for creating custom solid objects that also act as power sources that could lower the overall weight of the device and also improve their efficiency and range. The team is further working to improve the power capacity and efficiency of the fiber. According to Khudiyev, such fiber batteries could be ready for use in commercial products within a few years. Because the fiber battery is much thinner and more flexible, it along with electronic systems can be easily incorporated into fabrics.
The increasing demand for mobile computing, communications, and robotics presents a growing need for suitable portable power solutions in non-flat customized electronic devices. Fibers as fundamental building blocks of fabrics and 3D-printed objects provide unique opportunities for developing pervasive multidimensional power systems. Here, we present a Li-ion battery fiber, fabricated for the first time using a thermal drawing method which occurs with simultaneous flows of multiple complex electromotive gels, particles, and polymers within protective flexible cladding.
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