Bulletproof Batteries

On average, soldiers in the field carry about ten pounds of body armor and another eight pounds of batteries, so researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are looking for ways to lighten their load by turning batteries into body armor.

The new technology makes use of a phenomenon known as shear thickening, in which a liquid becomes rigid when subjected to a high impact force. Shear thickening was achieved by adding silica nanoparticles to a battery’s liquid electrolyte. Under normal operation, the electrolyte particles flow freely, but when hit by a physical shock (such as a bullet), the particles lock together and become solid — solid enough, in fact, to stop a bullet.

So far, the concept has only been tested on very small batteries, and scaling it up for larger form factors presents some challenges. For example, typical manufacturing processes involve injecting electrolyte into the battery, which would not be possible with a shear-thickening liquid. The goal is to continue research and build prototypes over the next year.