A research group at Harvard University built a flexible speaker out of transparent gel. The ionic gel can produce high-quality sound which ranges across the full audible spectrum. This gel speaker demonstrates how an electric charge passing through ions instead of electrons could be used in electronic devices.
In order to create the speaker, the scientists took a transparent rubber sheet and placed a layer of conductive saltwater gel to each side. As soon as voltage is applied to opposite edges of the gel layers, the entire piece of rubber begins to flex rapidly. This produces sounds ranging from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
Due to its ionic properties, the gel speaker is very flexible and can be stretched to several times its normal area and still function properly. Additionally, its voltage can be easily controlled by the scientists. Therefore, this project has proven that ionic conductors can potentially offer more advantages than conductors used today.
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