Prof. Dr. Nara Kim
Linköping University
Prof. Dr. Nara Kim
About the Speaker
Prof. Dr. Nara Kim received her BSc in Physics from Korea University in 2009 and her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in 2016, under the supervision of Prof. Kwanghee Lee. She joined the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at Linköping University as a postdoctoral researcher in 2017 and was appointed Assistant Professor in 2021 after receiving a Swedish Research Council (VR) Starting Grant.
Her research aims to establish material and device platforms for wearable electronics enabling continuous, real-time health monitoring in humans and plants. She primarily focuses on stretchable energy storage and harvesting systems as key enabling technologies, while advancing toward integrated sensing platforms. Her work spans mixed ion–electron conductors as well as purely electronic and ionic conductors, with an emphasis on structure–property relationships for soft, bio-integrated electronics.
Asbtract
Sustainable Stretchable Organic Batteries for Wearable Electronics
Nara Kim1*, Aiman Rahmanudin1, Danfeng Cao1, Jong Won Lee2, Myung Han Yoon2, Klas Tybrandt1
1Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Department of Science and Technology (ITN), Linköping University, Bredgatan 33, Norrköping, Sweden
2School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
Email: nara.kim@gmail.com
Driven by the need for sustainable energy storage, organic batteries based on renewable materials have attracted increasing attention. Beyond sustainability, organic materials offer additional advantages, such as mechanical flexibility and potential biocompatibility—key requirements for wearable and bio-integrated electronics that operate under deformation and in contact with biological environments. However, despite these benefits, the development of organic batteries has largely focused on conventional architectures, and their potential for wearable applications remains underexplored. In particular, stretchable organic batteries capable of maintaining stable electrochemical performance under mechanical deformation are still at an early stage.
Here, we present recent advances in stretchable organic batteries enabled by several design strategies1: (i) stretchable composite electrodes with redox-active molecules embedded in an ion-conducting elastomer matrix2, (ii) stretchable porous electrodes infiltrated with redox molecule-containing gel electrolytes3,4, and (iii) flowable paste-like electrodes based on redox polymer nanoparticles and conductive networks5. These electrodes are integrated with various stretchable separators and current collectors to achieve mechanically compliant full cells with stable electrochemical performance under repeated mechanical deformation. These emerging battery systems hold strong potential for ubiquitous wearable electronics, including IoT sensors for continuous human and plant health monitoring, and may further enable low-cost, disposable or transient electronic applications.
Reference
- A. Rahmanudin et al., J. Mater. Chem. A 2023, 11 (42), 22718-22736
- N. Kim et al., J. Mater. Chem. A 2023, 11 (46), 25703-25714
- A. Rahmanudin et al., Mater. Horiz. 2024, 11 (18), 4400-4412
- D. Cao et al. & J. Lee et al., unpublished
- M. Mohammadi et al., Sci. Adv. 2025, 11, eadr9010