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Researchers achieve historic milestone in energy capacity of supercapacitors

Scientific community inches closer to ultra-fast-charging energy storage

Date:
July 18, 2023
Source:
University of Texas at El Paso
Summary:
In a new landmark chemistry study, researchers describe how they have achieved the highest level of energy storage -- also known as capacitance -- in a supercapacitor ever recorded.
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In a new landmark chemistry study, researchers describe how they have achieved the highest level of energy storage -- also known as capacitance -- in a supercapacitor ever recorded.

The study, led by Luis Echegoyen, Ph.D., professor emeritus at The University of Texas at El Paso, and Marta Plonska-Brzezinska, Ph.D., of the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland, was recently featured in the journal Scientific Reports, which is published by leading research publisher Nature Portfolios.

Supercapacitors are devices that store electrical energy between two metal plates that are close together but separated by a surface that cannot conduct electricity. Supercapacitors are similar to batteries, except that batteries store and retrieve energy using chemical transformations, while capacitors store energy by using oppositely charged surfaces. They are frequently used in machines that require rapid discharge of energy, like electric cars, buses, trains and cranes.

"This is a big step forward and gets us closer to achieving supercapacitors with high energy density, which would radically change how we store and manage energy," said Echegoyen, a longtime faculty member within UTEP's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Supercapacitors have high potential because they can charge much faster than batteries -- within seconds to fractions of a second, according to Echegoyen. However, current supercapacitors can only store a low amount of energy, which limits their range of potential applications. If supercapacitors could be designed to store more energy, they would be physically lighter and charge much faster than batteries, which would have a significant commercial impact, according to scientists.

The new supercapacitor designed by Echegoyen and Plonska-Brzezinska achieved a record level of storage, or capacitance, using a material with a carbon "nano-onion" core structure, which creates multiple pores that allow storage of a greater volume of energy.


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Texas at El Paso. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Agnieszka Hryniewicka, Joanna Breczko, Gabriela Siemiaszko, Anthony N. Papathanassiou, Kinga Góra-Marek, Karolina A. Tarach, Krzysztof Brzezinski, Anna Ilnicka, Artur P. Terzyk, Karolina H. Markiewicz, Luis Echegoyen, Marta E. Plonska-Brzezinska. Three-dimensional organization of pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrole-based triazine framework using nanostructural spherical carbon: enhancing electrochemical performance of materials for supercapacitors. Scientific Reports, 2023; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37708-7

Cite This Page:

University of Texas at El Paso. "Researchers achieve historic milestone in energy capacity of supercapacitors." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 July 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230718225640.htm>.
University of Texas at El Paso. (2023, July 18). Researchers achieve historic milestone in energy capacity of supercapacitors. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 10, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230718225640.htm
University of Texas at El Paso. "Researchers achieve historic milestone in energy capacity of supercapacitors." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230718225640.htm (accessed November 10, 2024).

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