When will a new flexible battery line be built?

Construction of the new flexible line is set to get underway in September of this year, with the equipment coming online during 2025. The new line will provide battery developers with a cost-effective route to market, enabling companies to move from R&D through to large-scale production, without having to take cell development outside of the UK.

How can flexible batteries be manufactured?

Therefore, convenient and scalable manufacturing methods are crucial for the advancement of flexible batteries. Representatively, roll-to-roll printing, electrospinning, 3D printing, magnetron sputtering and chemical vapor deposition have been developed to attain scalable flexible electrodes with high volumetric energy density and firm structure.

What are flexible batteries used for?

Flexible batteries have applications in a growing number of fields, including wearable medical devices and biomedical sensors, flexible displays and smartwatches. Health-related applications powered by these batteries could transmit data wirelessly to healthcare providers, facilitating remote patient monitoring.

Can flexible batteries be made using electrochemical systems?

Electrochemical systems containing toxic chemical compounds or at risk of explosion are not suitable for fabricating the flexible batteries. Consequently, compared with LIBs, zinc/magnesium-based batteries with aqueous or hydrogel electrolytes exhibit greater potential for the fabrication of flexible batteries.

What is the future of flexible batteries?

As the market demand for wearable technologies continues to grow, the future of flexible batteries is promising, and further advances are likely. As with all batteries, one hurdle to overcome is their safe disposal and recycling, which should come as the technology and associated applications become circular.

Can flexible batteries be integrated into wearable devices?

Nowadays, the integration of flexible batteries has been successfully achieved into various wearable/implantable devices, catering to the requirements of our daily communications, healthcare monitoring, and smart wearable accessories (Fig. 1).