The Bendable Batteries That May Power the Future of Smart Devices and Consumer Technology

Someday soon, cities will be wired with hundreds of tiny sensors to track everything from pollution to traffic to weather. 5G cell boxes will broadcast blazing fast wireless internet capable of downloading a full movie to a phone in seconds. Advanced wearable sensors that could be woven into a shirt will track your gait, heart rate and even the chemicals in your sweat.There’s just one thing holding back the realization of that future: the battery.“The technology is close to being ready, it’s just the power source that isn’t there yet,” Shirley Meng, professor of nanoengineering and materials science at the University of California, San Diego, told The Daily Beast. “For something like wearable sensors, you need something that is flexible and safe enough to be worn right on your body in a wide range of temperatures.”The dominant battery technology for consumer devices is…

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