Flexible battery power

A paper-like, polymer based rechargeable battery has been developed by Japanese scientists at Waseda University.

The news is reported in the latest edition of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Communications.

Drs Hiroyuki Nishide, Hiroaki Konishi and Takeo Suga at Waseda University designed the battery which consists of a redox-active organic polymer film around 200 nanometres thick. Nitroxide radical groups are attached, which act as charge carriers. The battery has a high charge/discharge capacity because of its high radical density.

Dr Nishide said: "This is just one of many advantages the 'organic radical' battery has over other organic based materials which are limited by the amount of doping.

"The power rate performance is strikingly high - it only takes one minute to fully charge the battery. And it has a long cycle life, often exceeding 1,000 cycles."

The team made the thin polymer film by a solution-processable method - a soluble polymer with the radical groups attached is "spin-coated" onto a surface. After UV irradiation, the polymer then becomes crosslinked with the help of a bisazide crosslinking agent.