DNA Helix Structure Inspired Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries with High Spiral Deformability and Long-Lived Cyclic Stability

Abstract

With the development of flexible devices, it is necessary to design high-performance power supplies with superior flexibility, durability, safety, etc., to ensure that they can be deformed with the device while retaining their electrochemical functions. Herein, we have designed a flexible lithium-ion battery inspired by the DNA helix structure. The battery structure is mainly composed of multiple thick energy stacks for energy storage and some grooves for stress buffers, which realized the spiral deformation of batteries. According to the results, the batteries exhibit less than 3% capacity degradation even after more than 31000 times of in situ dynamic mechanical loadings. Moreover, the mechanism of the battery with spiral deformability is further revealed. It is anticipated that this bioinspired design strategy could create unique opportunities for the commercialization of flexible batteries and fill the current gap in realizing battery-specific deformations to meet various requirements for future complex device designs.

Biologically Assisted Construction of Advanced Electrode Materials for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion

“…Ear-of-wheat MWCNTs/Mn 3 O 4 nanocomposite (anode) [139] Bamboo-membrane 2D-2D multilevel graphene/Co 3 O 4 (anode) [241] Honeycomb Bimetallic CoMoO x nanostructures (anode) [243] Nacre shell PPyMADMA binded Si (anode) [104] Spider web Bismuth/CNF (anode) [107] MWCNT/𝛾-Fe 2 O 3 (anode) [108] Pupa-infilled honeycomb Li 2 MnSiO 4 /C (cathode) [244] Spine LiCoO 2 /graphite (full battery) [246] DNA helix LiFeO 4 /graphite (full battery) [247] Lithium-sulfur batteries a) Good LiPSs trapping behavior b) Fast charge/mass transport c) High volume expansion tolerance d) Depressed Li dendrites (for anodes) Dandelion 3D carbon nanotubes coated with S particles (cathode) [257] Ant-nest CNT-nest-S (cathode) [249] Pomegranate LaF 3 doped porous carbon nanofibers (cathode) [258] Hemin enzyme Fe(III) complex grafted on carbon nanotubes (cathode) [259] Intestinal cells ZnO nanowire/C framework (interlayer) [261] Phagocytic cells MWCNTs grafted heptakis(6-amino-6-deoxy)-𝛽-cyclodextrin (interlayer) [262] Mucus layer on fish scales Lithium decylphosphonate layer on Li (anode) [264] Stratum corneum UiO-66-ClO 4 /polydimethylsiloxane layer on Li (anode) [265] Electrocatalysts a) Abundant accessible active sites b) Fast charge/mass transport c) Favorable wettability d) Good durability e) Enzyme mimicking bonding structures Leaf NiCo LDH nanosheets on CuO nanowires (OER) [295] Nanocoral reef Ni(Co,Fe)P nanosheets on WOx nanowire (OER) [296] Mammalian alveoli Au/NiFeOx and Ag/Pt catalyst on pouch-like polyethylene (OER, ORR) [297] Grass carp scales Multiscale structured Pt (Kolbe electrolysis) [126] Subaquatic spiders and diving flies Cu dendrite scaffold (CO 2 reduction) [127] Ultrathin porous Bi 5 O 7 I nanotubes on carbon spheres (NRR) [130] Co 3 O 4 nanosheets on carbon cloth (ORR) [131] Fish scale NiMo alloy and NiFe LDH (HER, OER) [133] Aquaporin and plasma membranes BDC-NH 2 on anodic aluminum oxide (methanal detection) [135] Multiple prototypes (water spider, lotus leave, acati spine)…”

“…[ 246 ] Inspired by the DNA helix structure, a spiral deformable LIB was constructed with multiple thick energy stacks for energy storage and some grooves for stress buffers, which showed high capacity retention even under harsh dynamic stress loadings. [ 247 ] With deeper understanding of biological arrangements and upgrading of artificial fabrication, more bionic designs in portable batteries would arise to adapt different deforming and load‐carrying manners in different circumstances.…”

Kirigami‐Inspired Flexible Lithium‐Ion Batteries via Transformation of Concentrated Stress into Segmented Strain

“…Although extensive attention has been paid to the deformability of flexible lithium-ion batteries (FLIBs), the mechanical durability and stable electrochemical performance are crucially challenged for FLIBs due to the difficulty of releasing alternating stress caused by periodic deformations. [9][10][11][12] In the past few decades, considerable efforts have been devoted to exploring enhanced FLIBs and proposing possible definitions and evaluation criteria for flexible energy storage devices. [13,14] However, most reports have mainly focused on expanding cell components with inherently soft, elastic, and even self-healing functions, such as porous electrodes, self-healing electrolytes, carbon-based current collectors, non-metallic packaging films, etc.…”

“…Although extensive attention has been paid to the deformability of flexible lithium‐ion batteries (FLIBs), the mechanical durability and stable electrochemical performance are crucially challenged for FLIBs due to the difficulty of releasing alternating stress caused by periodic deformations. [ 9–12 ]…”

Toward Flexible Embodied Energy: Scale‐Inspired Overlapping Lithium‐Ion Batteries with High‐Energy‐Density and Variable Stiffness

“…To further improve the energy density, several novel structure designs for LIBs have recently been offered to balance the energy density and flexibility. Spine‐like, [ 23 ] zigzag‐like, [ 24 ] accordion‐like, [ 25 ] and DNA‐inspired LIBs [ 26 ] all have the basic design idea of decoupling (rigid) energy storage and (supple) flexibility parts in battery configuration. However, the strong scalability of these batteries has been ignored, which could significantly provide the battery with multifunctionality through integrative structure design.…”