Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed stretchable batteries that can be used to power a new generation of flexible electronics. The batteries will allow stretchable electronic devices to be used anywhere, including inside the human body where they could monitor anything from brain waves to heart activity, succeeding where flat, rigid batteries would fail.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated an approach to modifying the light absorption and stretchability of atomically thin 2D materials by surface topographic engineering using only mechanical strain. The highly flexible system has future potential for wearable technology and integrated biomedical optical sensing technology when combined with flexible light-emitting diodes.