Professor Seong Su Kim’s team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed a thin, uniform, high-density, multifunctional structural carbon fiber composite battery capable of supporting loads, and that is free from fire risks while offering high energy density. The research is published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Early structural batteries involved embedding commercial lithium-ion batteries into layered composite materials. These batteries suffered from low integration of their mechanical and electrochemical properties, leading to challenges in material processing, assembly, and design optimization, making commercialization difficult.