Battery prototype uses fibre-shaped cathode

This is the claim of North Carolina State University researchers whose fibre was used to create a zinc-ion battery prototype that could power a wrist watch. The proof-of-concept study is detailed in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

“Ultimately, we want to make a yarn-shaped battery, so we could put it in a real garment, and preferably hide it,” said the study’s corresponding author Wei Gao, associate professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science at NC State. “In this study, we created a yarn-shaped cathode. Our findings were pretty promising for such a short strip of fibre, and we hope to continue this work to improve the performance, safety, and mechanical properties of our designs.”

To create the cathode, the researchers utilised graphene to make a yarn-shaped zinc-ion battery.

In their study, the researchers created different manganese dioxide microparticles in various shapes and sizes. Then, they used a solution-spinning process to form a fibre made of graphene oxide, with manganese dioxide particles embedded within. They studied the electrochemical and other properties of the fibres.