Mass entrepreneurship and innovation has become a reflection of today's society. When it comes to innovation, perhaps no other industry can match the electronics industry. The development of electronic products, beyond imagination, for example, the screen folding mobile phone, since the emergence of the day, it can be said that the attention of consumers.

In recent years, everyone seems to be more enthusiastic about the development and use of folding products. For example, the more popular wearable electronic products on the market, such as heating coat, insoles, bracelets, etc., can be folded. When it comes to electronics, we have to talk about lithium batteries. The above mentioned wearable electronic products are inseparable from lithium battery services. What we're going to focus on today is a new type of lithium battery, the folding lithium battery.

In the past, we used lithium batteries in electronic products, the general texture is relatively hard, using will make people have a kind of uncomfortable feeling. Aiming at this shortcoming of lithium batteries, the department of textiles and clothing of Hong Kong polytechnic university has developed a super soft fabric lithium battery recently.

Polyu has developed a fabric lithium battery that can be folded and bent to a diameter of about 1mm, with an energy density of more than 450w/l. It is extremely flexible and can be repeated 1,000 times without loss of performance. A typical bendable lithium battery can only bend to a radius of about 25 mm and has a performance of only 200 watt-hours per liter. According to the research team, the fabric lithium battery could be used in smartwatch strap, hot clothing and other products in the future, more comfortable to wear, but also more durable.

Using polyu's patented new polymer-assisted metal deposition technique, the team deposited highly conductive metals copper and nickel evenly on treated fabrics, such as cotton and carbon cloth, to produce a conductive fabric that replaces the foil on the surface of ordinary lithium batteries to act as a fluid collector and improve softness.

The team's deformation tests proved that the fabric lithium battery has extremely high mechanical stability, durability and safety. After repeatedly folding in half, twisting at different angles and wrinkling irregularly, the battery's voltage performance is not damaged. Safety tests such as continuous hammering, shearing and steel needle piercing have also proved that batteries can provide a steady supply of power to electronic components without the risk of fire or rupture.

According to zheng zijian, a professor in the department of textiles and apparel at the Hong Kong polytechnic university, it took the team three years to develop the fabric lithium battery. The principle is to use polymer-assisted metal deposition to deposit highly conductive metals evenly on the treated fabric, such as cotton and carbon cloth, to conduct the material and replace the foil on the surface of ordinary lithium batteries to act as a fluid collector and improve the softness.

Professor zheng zijian also introduced that compared with traditional lithium batteries, fabric lithium batteries are both small and thin, less than 0.5 mm thick. In the past, smart products such as smart watch straps and hot clothes can only last 1 day when fully charged, but if you use fabric lithium batteries, it can be charged for up to 2 days.

In addition to providing a stable, durable and safe energy supply for wearable electronics, fabric lithium batteries can also be used in medical health monitoring, smart textiles and other fields. If this trend continues, it may be only a matter of time before fabric lithium batteries become commonplace.