It’s inventions like this that make me so proud to be a Canadian. Maksim Skorobogatiy and his colleagues at the Polytechnic School of Montreal have come up with a way that has flat, flexible batteries built right into garment fabric.

This is quite different from what we already see in some other clothing. Those t-shirts with the flashing LEDs have a battery pack sewn onto them. Vests with solar panels have batteries laid over top (or underneath) them. What these Canadian scientists have been able to create is a flexible fabric where the batteries are actually integrated in the fabric itself.

In order to build their battery, they sandwich a solid polyethylene oxide electrolyte between a lithium iron phosphate cathode and lithium titanate anode. All of these are thermoplastic materials, which can be stretched under mild heating.

It’s fully wearable and fully flexible without using any liquid electrolytes. The trouble is that the artificial leather-like material is not yet waterproof or washable. When it is, they expect to see all sorts of application, from portable debrillating to medical monitoring.  I wonder if that liquipel technology would help?

Photo Top: Tron [ Source: PDF Link ]

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