Various flexible technologies have been invented, from displays to circuits to memory, so the next logical step in the process would be to create a battery to go with it. Up until now, flexible batteries have eluded manufacturers, but researchers from Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have come up with a bendable lithium-ion battery that may just make that flexible phone a reality.
The team, lead by Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has come up with this technology as an energy source for flexible displays.
The battery is able to provide a constant charge no matter how you bend and fold it, as seen in this video.
Manufacturing for the battery is key to how the battery is able to function, with the rechargable lithium-ion batteries printed on a thin flim, through a peel-and-stick type of manufacturing process.
Professor Lee believes that with this flexible battery, we will be able to increase the speed of development of fully flexible technologies in combination with existing flexible technologies, such as display, memory and LED.
So far there hasn’t been any talk of potential commercial use, but I see good things about where flexible technology is going. Imagine being able to just roll up a phone or being able to put it in your jeans pocket and not having it stick out like a sore thumb.