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www.extremetech.com 2015 02956.txt.txt

#irigamistretchable batteries could herald flexible electronics era Fitness trackers and smartwatches aren known for their battery life, and it may have something to do with the inflexible, fixed-shape cell packs inside. A new experiment bears testimony to the idea that, if computers have become more mobile and flexible batteries should become more flexible, too. Arizona State university and China Jinan University have teamed up to create what could become the first flexible batteries inside wearable electronics. The secret to these tretchable batteriesconsists of a traditional Japanese fold-and-cut practice of kirigami (which derives from origami. irigamiis a compound word made of two words, iru (to cut), and ami (paper. The Japanese practice involves making small slits or paper crease cuts and folding the paper remnants to create some form of design. In this case, the ASU team, led by ASU mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Hanqing Jiang, created cut -and-twist patterns in the creases of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil; coated the foil with electrode-laden, conductive material; and then replaced the 300mah battery inside Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch with the coated kirigami-cut aluminum foil. To test out the new battery, the researchers connected the aluminum foil with two pliers, attached it to both the Gear 2 smartwatch and an elastic band that was pulled up from the wrist to the bicep, and stretched the lithium-ion battery to 150%of its original size. The result? The wearer bent and stretched his bicep 15, %the kirigami battery remained intact, and the Gear 2 smartwatch continued its video playback. ASU leader Dr. Jiang says that the kirigami-based design is the secret to the future of flexible electronics. he kirigami-based methodology can be expanded readily to other applications to develop highly stretchable devices and thus deeply and broadly impact the field of stretchable and wearable electronics, he said. ther applications may include smart bracelets and smart headbands. The results and other details regarding the study can be found in the Scientific Reports journal as well as Nature magazine. The goal behind stretchable batteries is to create mobile computing devices that are fully flexible devices that need not sacrifice elegance for functionality Flexible batteries will allow devices to become thinner, lighter, and more formal while leaving room for two batteries to be placed inside a device instead of just one. The Gear 2 300mah battery, as stated in the report, could become a 600mah battery that keeps a smartwatch or smart fitness band alive for twice as long on a single charge f

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