Penn State develops eel-inspired hydrogel battery to power flexible medical devices and soft robotics.
Scientists at Penn State have developed a flexible, high-power hydrogel battery inspired by electric eel s. The new design could power medical devices, wearable electronics , and soft robotics without toxic materials or rigid supports.
The team layered multiple types of hydrogels, including water-rich, conductive materials, in a precise pattern that mimics the ionic processes electric eels use to produce bursts of electricity. By optimizing the chemistry and geometry of these hydrogels, they achieved power densities higher than previously reported for hydrogel-based batteries.According to Joseph Najem, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and corresponding author, “The electrocytes in electric eels are ultra-thin biological cells, capable of generating over 600 volts of electricity in a brief burst. These cells achieve very high-power densities, meaning they can produce a lot of power from small volumes.”Earlier eel-inspired devices produced limited power and required mechanical support to function. Penn State researchers addressed this by making their hydrogels extremely thin, only 20 micrometers per layer, allowing more power generation without external supports.Eel-inspired hydrogel powerUsing spin coating, the researchers deposited four different hydrogel mixtures on a rotating surface, achieving ultra-thin, uniform layers. Dor Tillinger, doctoral candidate and co-first author, said, “We found that using thin hydrogel naturally reduced the internal resistance of the material, which increased the power densities we could output.”To make the thin layers stable, the team tuned the hydrogel chemistry to maintain mechanical integrity and low electrical resistance. Wonbae Lee, co-first author, explained, “Conventional formulations would simply fly off the spinning surface during spin coating. Optimizing the viscosity and mechanical strength of our hydrogel was essential to making this approach work.”The hydrogel batteries remain flexible, environmentally stable, and non-toxic. They retain water for days in air and can operate in extreme temperatures ranging from -112 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit without freezing.Hydrogel survives harsh conditionsThe resulting power sources reach densities of around 44 kW/m³, enough to efficiently operate implanted sensors, soft robotics controllers, and wearable electronics. The devices also function without any structural support, making them suitable for integration in biomedical or near-biological systems.“The electrocytes in electric eels are ultra-thin biological cells, capable of generating over 600 volts of electricity in a brief burst,” Najem said. “For biomedical and near-biology applications, we have to make sure that batteries are compatible with their surroundings, flexible, safe and ideally capable of using available resources to recharge.”Future work will explore higher power density, improved recharging efficiency, and self-charging capabilities. Additional Penn State contributors include Derek Hall and Haley Tholen.The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.The findings were published in Advanced Science.
Electric Eel Flexible Battery High Power Density Hydrogel Soft Robotics Spin Coating Wearable Electronics
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