Nanowerk September 28, 2021
Researchers in South Korea have made a structure with individual, overlapping units, similar to snake scales that can be used to construct shape-morphing batteries for untethered soft robots. They created it by folding well-defined, two-dimensional patterns with cutouts, the folding lines mimicking the hinge structure of snakeskin, enabling stable deformations without mechanical damage to rigid cells. The structure is applied to a stretchable Li-ion battery, constructed to form an arrangement of electrically interconnected, hexagonal pouch cells. Simulation confirmed that the battery maintains its performance under dynamic deformation with a 90% stretching ratio and 10-mm-radius bending curve, guaranteeing a long-lasting charging/discharging cycle life during cyclic bending, and stretching (exceeding 36,000 cycles). Shape-morphing energy storage device is applied to movable robots, mimicking crawling, and slithering, to demonstrate excellent conformability and deformability…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Ultra-deformable shape-morphing structure with a geometric design inspired by the scales of a snake…Credit: Soft Robotics, 16 Aug 2021Â