The ability to effectively store and release energy is critical for human progress. Recently, a team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany developed a class of mechanically metamaterials with high elastic energy density—materials capable of storing and releasing mechanical energy more efficiently than any previous material, significantly advancing storage technology.

Many technologies rely on mechanical energy storage, including springs that absorb impact, buffers designed to store kinetic energy, and flexible structures within robots. In these applications, kinetic energy is converted into elastic potential energy, which can be fully released when needed; a key factor in this process is the enthalpy of the material—a measure of its ability to store and recover energy.

KIT’s team has ingeniously designed metamaterial structures using rod-like and helical shapes. This design avoids structural damage or permanent deformation, overcoming traditional limitations and achieving an entropy 2–160 times higher than that of existing materials. Twisted rods distribute stress more uniformly compared with conventional curved springs, thereby enhancing energy storage efficiency. Researchers state that these new metamaterials exhibit excellent stiffness alongside high elastic potential energy storage capabilities, making them potentially valuable in fields such as vibration damping, robotics, and efficient mechanical systems.

The findings were published in *Nature*.

(Lead image source: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
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