Design of a Janus‐Faced Electrode for Highly Stretchable Zinc–Silver Rechargeable Batteries

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges facing the development of comfortable wearable electronics is the fabrication of stretchable power sources, which are inherently safe and can maintain their electrochemical performance under mechanical elongation. Zinc-silver batteries based on water-based chemistry have been investigated as viable power supply candidates, owing to their high energy/power density and safety. However, this type of batteries requires a new electrode that can guarantee both high elasticity and stable cycling characteristics of the battery. Here, stretchable zinc-silver rechargeable batteries based on a Janus-faced electrode, which is a single electrode that comprises a cathode and an anode, are proposed. The Janus-faced electrode exhibits good mechanical robustness (200 cycles at 200% strain) and retains a high electrical conductivity in the elongated state (2.1 Ω at 100% strain). A proof-of-concept stretchable zinc-silver battery based on the Janus-faced electrode is fabricated to demonstrate the outstanding long-term cyclability (capacity retentions of ≈90% after 200 cycles), owing to the prevention of short circuit from the zinc dendrite by the unique electrode configuration. Further, the proposed stretchable zinc-silver batteries can deliver a stable electrochemical performance even under a 200% strain while maintaining their functional properties.

A design strategy for high mobility stretchable polymer semiconductors

“…Such electronics with new form factors will undoubtedly improve our daily life in the future 10 . A number of promising applications, such as stretchable circuits [11][12][13][14][15][16] , displays [17][18][19][20][21][22] , and energy storage devices [23][24][25][26][27] , have been demonstrated. As a key component in electronics, semiconductors that are intrinsically stretchable will allow the fabrication of high-density devices and create more robust products.…”

Bioinspired, Shape-Morphing Scale Battery for Untethered Soft Robots

“…Likewise, the scale batteries need the additional electrochemical stability within individual cells to ensure safety from external shocks. In addition, the scale battery can combine with other approaches, enhancing mechanical performance and electrochemical stability, such as applied re-entrant micro-honeycomb graphene/carbon nanotube (CNT) composite, 12 liquid metal alloy (eutectic gallium-indium; EGain), 13 micropillar lithium titanate oxide, Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO)-lithium nickel manganese oxide, LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 (LNMO) electrode supported on metallic surpentines, 14 Janus-faced Zn-Ag electrode, 15 and elastic current collector thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)-Cu/Ag alloy using electrostatic spraying. 16 For soft robots, the origami-based scale structure can also be applied to various energy applications.…”

“…7 Further, bioinspired battery structures are suggested, such as body-integrated 9 and spine-like, 10 as well as efforts to improve mechanical properties of battery components. [11][12][13][14][15][16] Second, mechanical metamaterials, artificial structures demonstrating unusual mechanical properties, determine the design's multiple degrees of freedom 17 and can enhance performance and reliability of soft robots. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Specifically, metastructures based on origami and kirigami have been applied to disperse the impact on a robot during a collision, 21 to create three-dimensional objects, 22 and to design stretchable batteries.…”

Realizing Stretchable Aqueous Zn–Based Batteries by Material and Structural Designs

“…Wang et al have used Ag 2 O and Zn as cathode and anode materials (Kumar et al, 2017), respectively, which can deliver excellent capacity at a rate of 2.5 mA h cm −2 and preserving their structure can maintain structural integrity after being subjected to 100% deformation (Figures 2B-E). Such outstanding structural stability can be assigned to the excellent resiliency of the applied elastomer against severe battery stretching ( Kumar et al, 2017;Song et al, 2020). It should be emphasized that in a stretchable device, the structure resiliency is an important performance parameter to evaluate the structural stability of the stretchable device, which should rely on the selected suitable elastomers to support active materials.…”