Progress in flexible lithium batteries and future prospects

TLDR

Flexible lithium‑ion batteries are emerging as a promising power source for flexible and wearable electronics, including roll‑up displays, touch screens, RFID tags, sensors, and implantable devices. This review summarizes recent progress in flexible lithium‑ion batteries, focusing on electrode material selection, structural design, and future prospects. The authors survey flexible solid‑state electrolytes, advanced electrode materials such as CNT, graphene, carbon cloth, conductive paper, textiles, and nanostructures, prototype flexible battery designs (cable/wire, transparent, stretchable), and emerging systems like Li–S, Zn–C, and Na‑ion batteries.

Abstract

With the advent of flexible electronics, flexible lithium-ion batteries have attracted great attention as a promising power source in the emerging field of flexible and wearable electronic devices such as roll-up displays, touch screens, conformable active radio-frequency identification tags, wearable sensors and implantable medical devices. In this review, we summarize the recent research progress of flexible lithium-ion batteries, with special emphasis on electrode material selectivity and battery structural design. We begin with a brief introduction of flexible lithium-ion batteries and the current development of flexible solid-state electrolytes for applications in this field. This is followed by a detailed overview of the recent progress on flexible electrode materials based on carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon cloth, conductive paper (cellulose), textiles and some other low-dimensional nanostructured materials. Then recently proposed prototypes of flexible cable/wire type, transparent and stretchable lithium-ion batteries are highlighted. The latest advances in the exploration of other flexible battery systems such as lithium–sulfur, Zn–C (MnO2) and sodium-ion batteries, as well as related electrode materials are included. Finally, the prospects and challenges toward the practical uses of flexible lithium-ion batteries in electronic devices are discussed.