Researchers at TU Delft and National University of Singapore have brought batteries to a next level by designing devices based on water which can be applied as practical, sustainable, and scalable high-rate energy storage solutions.
Small devices such as medical sensors, smart watches, and other Internet of Things-tools need to run as long as possible, have a high performance and should be recharged within seconds. That is why researchers at TU Delft and the National University of Singapore developed the new generation of high-rate energy storage devices, so called pseudo capacitators, which store a high amount of energy in a limited space and recharge instantly.
High and quick energy storage and fast power release
Until now there has been a trade-off between power and energy in energy storage devices: you can design a battery to store more energy, but it will deliver that energy more slowly. Or, you can design it to deliver high power quickly in a capacitor, but it won’t hold as much total energy. This new technology, made from modified conductive polymers and 2D materials, overcomes this issue, by combining high and quick energy storage and fast power release.
More advantages to this technology are:
- Bendability: This is a big plus for small applications. Bending does not result in performance loss.
- Stability: It does not degenerate quickly, even after being recharged for up to 100k times.
- Flexibility in size: When scaled-up, it can also be used in the electrical vehicle industry. For example, the capacitator can make cars start more quickly, or make capacitor-powered busses recharge less frequently.
- Safety: The device uses aqueous electrolyte, so it is not flammable.
- Environmentally friendly and easy to recycle: When a device such as a smart watch is disassembled, the capacitator can be dissolved in water and regenerates easily.
