We all want better batteries. We want them in different shapes, different sizes and featuring different uses. The battery world has long been stagnant. Heck, Wii remotes and Xbox 360 controllers still require actual AAs in order to work. What is this, 2005?! As far as wearable technology is concerned, we are waiting for a few promising battery technologies to reach fruition in order to get some forward motion on several ideas(like sweaters that can power your stuff.)
That crazy idea may have just received more traction. LG, who are often featured among these hallowed pages, have created a flexible cable that can store energy. You heard that right. The basic premise is this. The company is using thin strands of copper wire coated in nickel-tin alloy as an anode, wrapping them in aluminium wire coated in lithium cobalt oxide as a cathode, pouring liquid electrolyte down the middle, and then covering the whole thing in an insulator to make a long flexible battery that’s only a few millimeters thick.
These amazing batteries are just in the prototype/concept stage but they can already power your smartphone as well as your standard issue variety. LG has apparently used a knotted 25 centimeter length to power an iPod Shuffle for ten hours straight. The company hopes to have these flooding the market with bendable power by 2017. In the meantime, save a cross-stitch for that smartphone-charging sweater.
