Researchers in Sweden and the U.S. have produced a foam-like battery material that can withstand shock and stress using tree fibers. Source: KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyUsing nanocellulose broken down from tree fibers, researchers in Sweden and the U.S. have produced a foam-like battery material that can withstand shock and stress. It can also be used in 3D structures, enabling more electronics to fit in a smaller space.

Unveiled by a team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stanford University, the process for creating the material begins with making nanocellulose fibers that are dissolved, frozen and freeze-dried so that the moisture evaporates without passing through a liquid state. The material then goes through a process in which the molecules are stabilized so that the material does not collapse.

"The result is a material that is strong, light, and soft," says Max Hamedi, a researcher at KTH and Harvard University. The material resembles foam in a mattress, though it is harder, lighter and more porous. Although flexible and stretchable electronics already exist, researchers say the insensitivity to shock and impact are somewhat new.

The finished aerogel can be treated using a precise technique that verges on the atomic level to add ink that conducts electricity.

Hamedi says the batteries could be used in electric car bodies, as well as in clothing.