Flexible recharging devices

Most of the flexible recharging devices existing on the market are equipped with CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) PV cells based on amorphous sUicon (FlexceU, PowerFilm Solar ). 

Recently, our laboratory produced a foldable, bendable, and cutable postage-stamp-sized battery (Fig. 12.2). The device looks like a simple sheet of black paper, but it could spell a revolution in implantable battery technology (Pushparaj et al., 2007). The paper battery, a one-piece-integrated device is made of cellulose with CNT and lithium electrodes. The device is flexible, rechargeable, and has the ability to function over a wide range of temperatures giving it a wide variety of potential biomedical applications. As a biomaterial, this paper battery may be useful as a pacemaker because it could easily be inserted under a patient s skin. 

Multielectron storage devices can be used as (i) redox catalysts, also called electron mediators, for multielectron processes, (ii) electrochemical sensors with signal amplification, and (iii) molecular batteries that can be foreseen to power molecular machines in the future or that can be used to construct flexible rechargeable batteries.10... 

In everyday life, electronic devices have become necessary for different purposes, even during travel and leisure activities. Often the most important problem for many users is the battery lifetime, especially natural environments, such as on boats and wherever there is no possibihty to plug in our devices. In this section various devices that could use flexible composites in order to recharge batteries are presented. 

Polyanitine was the first CP polymer, which was described in the mid-19th century by Henry Letheby [36]. Since then numerous intrinsically CP have been developed, among others polyacetylene, polythiophene, polypyrrole. CPs, also referred to as synthetic metals, have found applications in many fields. They are integrated for example in solar cells, rechargeable batteries and biomedical devices [37]. CPs are also very attractive for biosensors. In biosensors, CP can be used as excellent non-metallic electrodes. Numerous biosensors have been developed over the past 20 years with electrodes made of CP. The fabrication is fairly easy and flexible. This allows the biosensors to be single-use system avoiding any risk of contamination and adaptation of the biosensors to new targets can be rapidly made. They are mostly biocompatible, can easily be synthesized and can be modified for immobilization of bioelements [38]. These conductive polymers are referred to as intrinsic conductive polymers in comparison to extrinsic conductive polymers that are a polymer matrix in which some metal particles have been entrapped [39]. 

---