Imagine a battery that’s soft like toothpaste and can be shaped into anything you want.
That’s exactly what researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have created—a bendable, stretchable battery that could power future gadgets in totally new ways.
This exciting development was recently published in the journal Science Advances.
Assistant Professor Aiman Rahmanudin, one of the lead researchers, explains that the battery’s gooey texture means it can be shaped using a 3D printer.
“This opens up a whole new kind of technology,” he says. Because it’s soft and flexible, the battery can be used in devices that need to be lightweight, wearable, or fit into unusual shapes.
In the next 10 years, it’s expected that more than a trillion devices will be connected to the Internet.
That’s not just phones and smartwatches, but also medical tools like insulin pumps and hearing aids, as well as things like soft robots, smart clothes, and even implanted sensors. To make all this work smoothly, we’ll need new types of batteries—ones that don’t get in the way or feel bulky.
Currently, most batteries are solid and take up a lot of space. They’re also stiff, which limits how they can be used. But this new battery changes the game. Because it’s soft and moldable, it can be built right into the design of any device, making the whole system more user-friendly and comfortable.
The big breakthrough came when the research team figured out how to turn the battery’s electrodes—normally solid—into a liquid form. Past attempts at making liquid batteries used materials like gallium, a liquid metal. But gallium could only be used in one part of the battery, and it tended to harden when used, making it unreliable.
Instead, the Linköping researchers used safer, more sustainable materials: a kind of plastic that can conduct electricity, and lignin, a natural substance that’s left over from making paper. This makes the battery not only flexible but also environmentally friendly. It can be charged and used over 500 times and still works even when stretched to twice its original size.
“There’s still room for improvement,” says Rahmanudin. Right now, the battery produces just 0.9 volts—less than many standard batteries. The team hopes to boost this by experimenting with common metals like zinc or manganese.
This soft, shape-shifting battery could one day power a whole new world of flexible electronics, from wearable health monitors to bendable smartphones—all while being kinder to the planet.
Source: Linköping University.
