Flexible and Stretchable Energy Storage: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Energy-storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors have become fundamental building blocks in modern society. Recently, the emerging direction toward the ever-growing market of flexible and wearable electronics has nourished progress in building multifunctional energy-storage systems that can be bent, folded, crumpled, and stretched while maintaining their electrochemical functions under deformation. Here, recent progress and well-developed strategies in research designed to accomplish flexible and stretchable lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors are reviewed. The challenges of developing novel materials and configurations with tailored features, and in designing simple and large-scaled manufacturing methods that can be widely utilized are considered. Furthermore, the perspectives and opportunities for this emerging field of materials science and engineering are also discussed.

Recent advances in flexible supercapacitors based on carbon nanotubes and graphene

“…To more easily and affordably use the above-mentioned energy sources, energy storage devices must be dramatically improved [1][2][3][4][5]. Rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors are the two most commonly used devices for energy storage, and have attracted persistent research attention over the last few decades [6][7][8][9].…”

Deformable and Transparent Ionic and Electronic Conductors for Soft Energy Devices

“…stretchable energy storage applications. [23,32] Such gel electrolytes can overcome the leakage problem of liquid electrolyte during stretching, and the overall resistance can be reduced by a thinner electrolyte layer. Gilshteyn et al reported that the stretchable transparent supercapacitor with PVA/H 2 SO 4 gel electrolyte showed 2.3-fold higher specific capacitance compared to the device with H 2 SO 4 electrolyte and a nonstretchable separator.…”

“…Therefore, new concepts and approaches for stretchable transparent batteries are necessary to address such challenging issues. Recent efforts have demonstrated stretchable [23] or transparent batteries, [31] which can inspire the future development of stretchable transparent batteries. Liu et al reported a stretchable Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 anode and LiFePO 4 cathode using the 3D porous sponge-like PDMS scaffolds.…”

Toward Soft Skin‐Like Wearable and Implantable Energy Devices

“…However, the encapsulation of liquid electrolytes in wearable ESCDs is challenging, due to potential safety issues such as leakage, flammability, and poor chemical stability while energy devices are being used. [56] Therefore, considerable efforts have been made to replace liquid electrolytes with gel and solid ionic electrolytes.…”