Anna Hartz
Liquid Battery Breakthrough Could Redefine Electronics Design
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Batteries are usually thought of as solid and rigid. You put them in a remote or a phone, and they sit there quietly doing their job.
But that image may soon change. A team of Swedish scientists has created something unexpected—a battery that is soft, stretchable, and even printable, reports WP.
This battery is more like toothpaste than a block of metal. You can shape it. You can even print it using a 3D printer.
That opens up all kinds of possibilities for the future of electronics. It was developed at Linköping University, and the team believes this battery could change how we design devices.
Professor Aiman Rahmanudin, who worked on the project, says the goal is to make batteries part of a device’s shape.
Not just something tucked inside. Think of a phone where the casing itself is the battery. Or smart clothes that are soft and flexible—and powered by the fabric itself.
This could matter even more in the future. Experts say that over a trillion devices will be connected to the internet in the next decade.
Many of these will be medical devices like pacemakers, insulin pumps, or wearable sensors.
Others could be smart clothing, flexible screens, or robotic limbs. Those devices need batteries that can bend and move without breaking.
Previous attempts to make soft batteries often used mechanical tricks. Some used stretchable parts.
Others relied on rare materials that are hard to recycle. But this new battery is different.
It uses liquid electrodes instead of solid ones. That allows it to stretch, twist, and still work.
It’s also more eco-friendly. It’s made from conductive polymers and lignin—a waste product from paper-making.
It’s not perfect yet. The battery works at a low voltage, and the team is still working to improve it.
They’re testing new materials like zinc or manganese to increase the power.
But the battery already lasts through more than 500 charges without performance loss. It can also stretch to twice its length and keep working.
And that’s a pretty big deal.