LG invented the battery in the form of a bendable wire
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LG Chem, a member of the LG group of companies and one of the largest chemical companies in the world, invented a lithium-ion battery in the form of a cable several millimeters in diameter and plastic enough to be tied into a knot, worn as a bracelet or embedded in a fabric.
The chemical process in such a cable is the same as in any other lithium-ion battery of a smartphone or laptop: anode, lithium cobalt oxide cathode, electrolyte - but instead of being arranged in layers, they are twisted into hollow, bendable wires .
The battery invented by LG Chem's is made as follows. The filaments of a copper wire coated with an alloy of nickel and tin, creating an anode, are woven into a thicker thread, and then wrapped around a 1.5 mm rod. Then the rod is removed, leaving a strong thread. After that, an aluminum wire is wound around the filament, and then the entire structure is placed in a suspension of lithium oxide and cobalt, which covers the aluminum wire and becomes the cathode. In the end, the anode-cathode filament is wrapped with insulation and the hollow space of the filament is filled with electrolyte, thereby creating a battery.
Of course, bendable batteries were created before, but they were just ordinary, flat batteries, made not of the most optimal materials, such as polymers. As a result, they had a small capacity, and flexibility was limited by the flexibility of the plastic sheet (see video). The battery assembled in the LG Chem has the same voltage and capacity as a regular smartphone battery, but it is thin and well bendable. A 25-centimeter battery powers the iPod Shuffle for 10 hours. LG is keen to launch mass production of such batteries by 2017.
For information, batteries are the only significant limitation to the widespread availability of high-power computers. While Intel is pushing for the production of transistors the size of a few atoms and processors that execute billions of operations per second, consuming just a few watts, we are still stuck with clumsy batteries that have only a few form factors.
If you remove the batteries from the equation, new form factors will blow up the market. Instead of cylindrical batteries in laptops or
parallelepipeds in smartphones and tablets, batteries in the form of wires will allow them to be used everywhere - along the edge of the chassis, around the perimeter of the screen. Instead of creating devices with a built-in battery, you can carry the battery around your neck or waist, or embed it in your clothes. Smartphones and tablets will lose half the weight, and devices will become flexible and foldable diplomas will become a reality.
The chemical process in such a cable is the same as in any other lithium-ion battery of a smartphone or laptop: anode, lithium cobalt oxide cathode, electrolyte - but instead of being arranged in layers, they are twisted into hollow, bendable wires .
The battery invented by LG Chem's is made as follows. The filaments of a copper wire coated with an alloy of nickel and tin, creating an anode, are woven into a thicker thread, and then wrapped around a 1.5 mm rod. Then the rod is removed, leaving a strong thread. After that, an aluminum wire is wound around the filament, and then the entire structure is placed in a suspension of lithium oxide and cobalt, which covers the aluminum wire and becomes the cathode. In the end, the anode-cathode filament is wrapped with insulation and the hollow space of the filament is filled with electrolyte, thereby creating a battery.
Of course, bendable batteries were created before, but they were just ordinary, flat batteries, made not of the most optimal materials, such as polymers. As a result, they had a small capacity, and flexibility was limited by the flexibility of the plastic sheet (see video). The battery assembled in the LG Chem has the same voltage and capacity as a regular smartphone battery, but it is thin and well bendable. A 25-centimeter battery powers the iPod Shuffle for 10 hours. LG is keen to launch mass production of such batteries by 2017.
For information, batteries are the only significant limitation to the widespread availability of high-power computers. While Intel is pushing for the production of transistors the size of a few atoms and processors that execute billions of operations per second, consuming just a few watts, we are still stuck with clumsy batteries that have only a few form factors.
If you remove the batteries from the equation, new form factors will blow up the market. Instead of cylindrical batteries in laptops or
parallelepipeds in smartphones and tablets, batteries in the form of wires will allow them to be used everywhere - along the edge of the chassis, around the perimeter of the screen. Instead of creating devices with a built-in battery, you can carry the battery around your neck or waist, or embed it in your clothes. Smartphones and tablets will lose half the weight, and devices will become flexible and foldable diplomas will become a reality.