Chinese scientists develop a wearable battery

Chinese scientists have achieved scalable production of high-performance batteries woven from lithium-ion fibres, bringing wirelessly-charged electronics through clothing closer to reality.

Researchers from Fudan University recently published their respective study in the journal “Nature”, noting that the internal resistance of these fibers changes with the change in their lengths, which constitutes theoretical support for the development of lithium-ion fiber batteries.

The meter-long fiber, developed by the research team, has been shown to be able to continuously power wearable electronics such as smartphones, smart bracelets and heart rate monitors for an extended period of time.

The magazine indicated that the retention of the battery’s capacity remained at about 90.5 percent after 500 charge and discharge cycles, in addition to that 80 percent of its capacity could be restored after bending those fibers for 100,000 cycles.

Previously, the length of these batteries was kept in the centimeter range, which made weaving fibers into textiles impossible, Xinhua reported.

Based on the new discovery, the researchers were able to make high-performance batteries woven from lithium-ion fibres. Combined with wireless charging pads, the textiles could represent flexible and stable electrical solutions for smartphones, according to the research team.