Panasonic released a bendable lithium battery production in April 2018
Publish：Sino Energy Corporation Time：2017-02-08
[lithium engineering comprehensive report]
Most of the wireless devices on the market are huge, basically because of their batteries.
At present, the mainstream electronic products are used in lithium-ion batteries, lithium ion batteries because of the durability and charging performance are very good. However, the lithium-ion battery is very fragile (SamsungNote7 users can testify), so it must be wrapped up layers, and need to be made very strong.
With the pursuit of life time, the battery is also growing. For example, in the latest iPhone7, even the headset jack have been canceled, leaving only limited size, shape, and curvature of the hardware of the battery only.
But on this year‘s CES, Panasonic says they can wipe out the only limit. The new lithium ion battery can maintain 80% capacity after twisting or bending for 1000 times. At the CES meeting, Panasonic released three different versions of the flexible battery, each battery is the size of the bank card, and can easily around the coke cans.
This battery is not a new concept. Panasonic has been studying lithium ion batteries since 2008, but there was no news of the project until last September. Panasonic is now releasing the battery because it can be mass produced.
According to Panasonic‘s wearable energy, deputy director of the Department of energy, said YorikoYagi, the battery will be between April 2018 to March 2019 mass production. Panasonic in October last year to all the potential customers to provide samples, but so far did not disclose the specific price.
"We live in small electronic products, such as wearable devices and networking devices more and more, and their design will be subject to the limitations of the battery volume. If we want a small device, we first need a small battery." Yagi says.
Panasonic‘s flexible battery is only 0.45 mm thick, but its capacity is very small. The maximum capacity of the CG-064065 model battery is only 60 MA (mAh), while the minimum model is only about 17.5 MA (mAh). In contrast, the current market‘s largest smartphone battery has a capacity of 3500 MA (mAh).
This means that this new battery is only suitable for wearable devices, card devices, and networking equipment. Perhaps in the future, Panasonic can expand the capacity of the battery to improve the capacity of the structure, the introduction of a mobile phone can be a flexible battery. "Basically, we can do that, but we don‘t have a plan to develop a mobile phone battery." Yagi said.
You know, large capacity lithium ion batteries, such as cell phone batteries, is very dangerous flammable and explosive. Imagine holding a Samsung Note7 battery bending and torsion, ha ha... So, because of security considerations, Matsushita currently focus on wearable and networking equipment for the low power consumption products.
Yagi said that although there are other companies in the market are also developing flexible lithium-ion batteries, but Panasonic version is the most rigorous test, the highest performance.
So, in the end is how to create a Panasonic can be bent on the safety of lithium-ion batteries?
Before they understand technology, we must first understand the basic structure of lithium ion battery: lithium ion battery is formed by lithium anode, cathode and electrolyte to form graphite, the intermediate between extremes (usually liquid or colloid). When the battery is charged, the lithium ions penetrate through the electrolyte to the cathode. When the battery is discharged, the lithium ions penetrate the electrolyte and return to the anode.
In most lithium ion batteries, each of the anode electrolyte cathode sandwiches is a cylinder. If the cylinder is bent or twisted, the outer layer is separated from the inner layer, resulting in a loss of capacity.
In order to be able to withstand bending, Panasonic researchers decided to abandon the fragile cylinder, direct the two bases together, like a real sandwich. The cuboid is sealed by a bendable organic aluminum compound. Currently, the compound is a trade secret.
In this case, how to charge the battery becomes a problem. Panasonic does not want to leave a charging port on the surface of its thin battery, so the battery must be charged wirelessly. And because the battery capacity of up to 60 Ma, the vast majority of the market‘s wireless charger will burn it.
Eventually, Panasonic has developed a wireless charger for the battery. Yagi said that if the battery is used to power equipment sports Bracelet pedometer function simple, full power can provide about around the power. With the mass production of CG-064065 and its sister models, Yagi is looking forward to their future: "I believe that the battery has great potential in the future."
