As the world becomes increasingly reliant on electricity, more stable, versatile, and efficient battery technologies are needed to help the world transition to a post-fossil fuel economy and society. Biomimetic batteries could be the future.
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What are Biomimetic Batteries?
Designing better batteries isn’t just about squeezing in more power. It’s also about cutting costs, improving efficiency, and shrinking their environmental footprint. Yet despite decades of refinement, conventional lithium-ion technology still falls short of meeting the world’s growing sustainability demands.
Biomimetic batteries present an interesting solution. Inspired by nature, they mimic the elegant chemical and structural properties found in living organisms. This emerging approach promises to tackle some of the toughest challenges in energy storage, offering a new version of sustainable power.
The field of biomimetic batteries encompasses a range of innovations, from bio-inspired materials and structural designs to smarter modules and management systems that emulate the efficiency of natural processes.1
Management systems and modules based on nature are enhancing the adaptability and flexibility of emerging advanced energy storage systems, whilst bio and bio-inspired materials are providing breakthroughs in rechargeable batteries.1
Overcoming Cycle Life Issues with an Innovative Biomimetic Solution
A central issue with current conventional battery technologies is their relatively short life cycles. In lithium-sulfur batteries, for example, dendrite growth and lithium polysulfide (LPS) diffusion can reduce the cycle life of batteries, requiring regular replacement and potentially causing stability and safety issues.
One solution, published in Nature Communications, is to use biomimetic aramid nanofiber membranes inspired by cartilage. These self-assembling bio-inspired membranes prevent LPS transport by facilitating the formation of a negative charge surface. This surface is formed on the nanoscale pores present in the biomimetic material.2
The results of this study were positive. The battery exhibited a capacity close to the theoretical maximum, with a cycle life of over 3,500 cycles and vastly improved discharge rates. Moreover, the green synthesis methods used mean that this biomimetic battery technology is more sustainable, and the membranes are also safer due to their high thermal resilience.
Biomimetic Thermogalvanic Cells Offer High-Efficiency Waste Heat Recovery
Researchers are exploring ways to harvest waste heat directly within energy storage devices, turning thermal losses into usable energy. While some approaches have shown promise, they still face significant challenges, such as ion pairing, which limits ion concentration gradients and results in less-than-desirable conversion efficiencies.
Thermogalvanic cells have emerged as a particularly promising technology for this purpose, but there are still challenges that stand in the way of their success. Battery designs based on natural structures have the potential to overcome these issues.
A new paper has presented a bio-inspired thermogalvanic cell with a double-layered structure inspired by electric eels. This cell provides improved separation of redox pairs, overcoming ion pairing issues.
The study demonstrates that engineered ionic gradients are possible using this biomimetic energy storage technology.3 The extent of the device's capabilities was shown using a modular thermoelectric generator that could power commercial electronic displays and LEDs.
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Engineering Seamless Interfaces With a Biomimetic Hydrogel
Wearable tech and human/machine interfaces are two areas developing rapidly in tech. However, they require flexibility and durability, which is difficult to achieve. Aqueous batteries show promise here, but current technologies are somewhat limited due to issues such as low strength and potential parasitic reactions.
A new energy storage solution is needed, one that can overcome these limitations and better use wasted energy.
Bio-inspired hydrogel structures could be the way forward. A 2025 paper published in Energy & Environmental Science presents one such technology based on bone and mammalian joint structures. This biomimetic hydrogel is extremely dense and ultra-robust, mimicking the interactions between bone and collagen, as well as collagen with synovial fluid.4
The hydrogel presented in the study exhibits exceptional mechanical properties and enhanced ion transfer by disrupting unwanted crystallization. The researchers demonstrated that the hydrogel has potential for use as an electrolyte/electrode interface as well as a suitable technology for use in seamless human/machine interfaces in areas such as health monitoring. 4
Toward the Future: How Can Biomimetic Battery Technologies Help Solve Current Energy Storage Challenges?
Whilst technology has made significant strides toward a more sustainable future in recent years, more work needs to be done to realize the potential of the solutions presented above in environmental energy storage.
Biomimetic devices are potentially game-changing energy storage technologies. However, they need to be scalable and cost-effective to be considered commercially viable.
The increasing interest and focus on these bio-inspired battery technologies is positive, and if governments and the commercial sector are to meet internationally agreed limits on carbon emissions and climate change, more investment and collaboration between academia and industry will be needed.
Biomimetic batteries could well be the future of energy storage, or at least play a noteworthy role in its future.
Further Reading and More Information
- Zhang, N et al. (2025) Learning from nature: Biomimicry in secondary batteries Materials Today 82 pp. 223-250 [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S136970212400258X (Accessed on 28 June 2025)
- Wang, M et al. (2022) Multifactorial engineering of biomimetic membranes for batteries with multiple high-performance parameters Nature Communications 13, 278 [online] Nature. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27861-w (Accessed on 28 June 2025)
- Chi, C et al. (2025) Bioinspired Double-Layer Thermogalvanic Cells with Engineered Ionic Gradients for High-Efficiency Waste Heat Recovery Nano Energy 142 Part A [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2025.111189 (Accessed on 28 June 2025)
- Yao, L et al. (2025) Biomimetic bone hydrogel enables a seamless interface for aqueous battery and human/machine interaction Energy & Environmental Science 18 pp. 2524-2535 [online] Royal Society of Chemistry. Available at: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/ee/d4ee05066e (Accessed on 28 June 2025)
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