Stretchable Zn‐Ion Hybrid Battery with Reconfigurable V2CTx and Ti3C2Tx MXene Electrodes as a Magnetically Actuated Soft Robot

Stretchable energy storage devices have become indispensable components toward energy autonomy for wearable electronic, implantable medical devices, and untethered soft machines. A Zn‐based battery with a neutral electrolyte could act as a competitive candidate for wearable/implantable electronics because of its intrinsic safety and high energy density. Therefore, it is highly desired to develop a synergistic combination of stretchable anodes/cathodes and neutral electrolytes for stretchable Zn‐based batteries. Herein, a scalable fabrication process is developed to produce stretchable Zn‐ion hybrid batteries composed of V2CTx MXene cathodes and zinc‐decorated Ti3C2Tx MXene anodes. To endow high stretchability to the Zn‐ion hybrid battery, both MXene‐based electrodes are fabricated with crumple‐like microtextures enabling reversible folding/unfolding behaviors to attenuate in‐plane stress while stretching. In comparison with the state‐of‐the‐art work, the as‐fabricated Zn‐ion hybrid battery features large deformability (50% strain), ultrathin device (≈170 µm), low areal weight (≈20 mg cm−2), and an ultralow self‐discharge rate (0.7 mV h−1), and demonstrates rechargeable and strain‐insensitive specific capacities of 118.5 and 103.6 mAh g−1 under 0% and 50% strains, respectively. Finally, with ultrathin and lightweight merits, the stretchable battery is further fabricated into a magnetically actuated soft robot with remote control, capable of crawling between two designated points for charging/discharging tasks. A stretchable Zn‐ion hybrid battery, composed of reconfigurable V2CTx a MXene cathode and a zinc‐decorated Ti3C2Tx MXene anode, achieves strain‐insensitive mechanical properties and electrochemical performance. It performs magnetically robotic actuations and demonstrates synergistic advantages of light device weight, remote control, and user‐safe power supply. The integration of energy storage devices into soft robots facilitates the development of self‐powered soft machines towards futuristic applications.