New flexible battery research

Researchers have developed a new technology that can solve a big problem facing wearable devices: how to supply power?

Because the installed battery is too bulky, the shape and size of the wearable device are severely limited. To solve this problem completely, some researchers have developed flexible battery-type devices that can be printed directly on textiles.

Using simple screen printing technology, researchers can turn cotton into wearables.

Nazmul Karim, a researcher at the University of Manchester in the UK, said: “It creates a possibility that we can create environmentally friendly, low-cost smart electronic textiles that store energy while monitoring human activity and Physiological condition."

The so-called supercapacitors are very light and can be charged quickly. These are all critical. Now due to advances in solid supercapacitors, they can be made very flexible and can be printed on cloth.

The print electrodes exhibit excellent mechanical stability because of the strong interaction between the skin and the fabric.

Karim said: "The breakthrough in graphene-based flexible fabric supercapacitors, which uses simple, scalable printing technology, is a big step forward for the next generation of multi-functional wearable electronic textiles."

After another period of research, supercapacitors are entirely possible to give wearable devices more power.

It is used for a wide range of applications, such as manufacturing high-performance sportswear, monitoring individual performance, becoming an embedded health monitoring device, manufacturing lightweight military equipment, and becoming a new mobile communication device.

The researchers also said that it is even possible to develop a wearable computer in the future.

Another author of the report, Amor Abdelkader, said: “The equipment can be washed and it is entirely possible to use it in smart clothes in the future.”

“We believe that the new technology opens the door: using ink made from 2D materials, we can print a variety of equipment on the fabric.”

Abdul Kadir also said: “Fabric is the most flexible substrate. For the first time, we print stable equipment on the fabric, store energy, and it is as soft as cotton.”

The cost of manufacturing should not be too high, which is why it is the best choice for graphene oxide. It is a kind of graphene. The manufacture of graphene oxide and its use on fabrics is relatively inexpensive and relatively simple.

The University of Manchester is currently building a second large graphene facility with an investment of 60 million pounds and is expected to be completed in 2018. Upon completion, it will complement the National Graphene Research Institute (NGI), a research and development technology center.

The wearable industry is developing steadily, and some large technology companies are actively introducing new products.

StrategyAnalytics pointed out in the report that sales of wearable devices increased 21% last year to 22 million units.

Apple AppleWatch has recently achieved further success, although Apple did not disclose sales data, but StrategyAnalytics estimated that Apple's sales increased by 59% over the previous year, sales of 3.5 million in the first three months of 2017.

Neil Mawston, executive director of StrategyAnalytics, said: "The new AppleWatchSeries2 sells better in the US, UK and elsewhere because it's more stylish, more marketing, and more retail."

There are reports that Samsung is developing a new smart watch that can help users get fit.

Last week, Samsung did not intend to disclose some information related to the new device in the mail survey. The survey was sent to Samsung by SmartLabPlus members.

The new smartwatch is follow-on to GearS3 which integrates the functionality of GearS3 with the functionality of GearFit2.

The new device can be used for one day, completely waterproof, and the watch has a smaller body and is more comfortable to wear.

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