Phys.org July 19, 2021 To create electrically conductive paths through a thick silicon dioxide researchers at UT Austin used a technique first deployed in the manufacturing of semiconductor electronic chips. By coating the silicon dioxide layer with a thin film of aluminum and heating the entire structure, arrays of nanoscale “spikes” of aluminum that completely bridge the silicon dioxide layer were created. These can be replaced by nickel or other materials that help catalyze the water-splitting reactions. When illuminated by sunlight, the devices efficiently oxidized water to form oxygen molecules while also generating hydrogen at a separate electrode and exhibited […]
Tag Archives: Energy storage
Graphene additive manufacturing for flexible and printable electronics
Phys.org July 2, 2021 As a proof-of-concept researchers at Kansas State University used graphene aerosol gel ink, synthesized via an energy efficient, catalyst-free, and nonhazardous chemical precursor detonation method, such as hydrocarbons (e.g., acetylene) in the presence of controlled oxygen. They used the ink to print microsupercapacitors in interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) geometry on 25-μm thick polyimide substrates using a micro plotter. The microsupercapacitors showed an aerial capacitance of 55 μF/cm2 and volumetric capacitance of 3.25 F/cm3 at a current density of 6.0 microamp/cm2 and 20 milliamp/cm3, respectively. The printed devices did not show a significant distortion in the cyclic voltammetry […]
First 3D-printed proton-conductive membrane paves way for tailored energy storage devices
Phys.org April 15, 2021 Researchers in Japan chose mixtures of proton-conducting ionic liquids, inorganic silica nanoparticles, and UV-sensitive photocurable resins as inks for 3D printing of membranes. They found that the mixing ratio of the precursors enabled tuning of the viscosity of inks, and the inks with an appropriate mixing ratio could be applied for 3D printing. They confirmed that the inks can function as proton exchange membranes in all-solid-state electrochemical double-layer capacitors after curing by UV irradiation…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Oddly satisfying metamaterials store energy in their skin
Science Daily December 2, 2020 Metamaterials’ properties are controlled through structural design at the mesoscale, thus broadening the design space beyond the limits of traditional materials. An international team of researchers (USA – Purdue University, Switzerland) experimented with a family of mechanical metamaterials consisting of soft sheets and patterned array of reconfigurable bistable domes. The domes can be reversibly inverted at the local scale to generate programmable multistable shapes and tunable mechanical responses at the global scale. By 3D printing a robotic gripper with energy‐storing skin and a structure that can memorize and compute spatially‐distributed mechanical signals, they have shown […]
Building walls that will make summer heat waves more bearable
Phys.org September 28, 2020 A team of researchers in South Korea propose Phase Change Material (PCM) wall device using bubble injection method for the application of PCM in building envelopes. The density difference between PCM and bubbles causes the upward movement of the bubbles and flow in the liquid PCM destroying temperature stratification in the PCM and heat penetration across the PCM is reduced. With the application of the bubble injection method, 11% more latent heat energy was stored in the PCM, 28% less heat penetrated across the PCM wall and the average flow rate inside the liquid PCM with […]
Faster, more efficient energy storage could stem from holistic study of layered materials
Science Daily August 25, 2020 An international team of researchers (USA – Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Georgia State University, Tulane University, Drexel University, Portugal) integrated theoretical data from computational modeling of experimental data to pinpoint potential locations of a variety of charged ions in titanium carbide, the most studied MXene phase. MXenes are a class of two-dimensional materials constructed in layers that are only a few atoms thick. They were able to form links between theory and different types of materials characterization, ranging from very simple to very complex over a wide range of length and time scales. The study’s […]
Novel approach improves graphene-based supercapacitors
EurekAlert August 3, 2020 Researchers in Australia have developed a technique to improve the performance of quasi‐solid‐state supercapacitors made by graphitized silicon carbide on silicon electrodes and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)+H2SO4 gel electrolyte. They increased the specific capacitance of the cell up to 3‐fold resulting from a simple agent‐free, in situ, electrochemical treatment leading to functionalization of the graphitic electrodes. The functionalization of the electrodes simultaneously enables redox reactions, without adding any redox agent, and increases the overall capacitance…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Using mountains for long-term energy storage
Science Daily November 11, 2019 To close the gap between existing short- and long-term storage technologies an international team of researchers (Austria, Denmark, Italy) proposes Mountain Gravity Energy Storage (MGES) and hydropower which moves sand or gravel from a lower storage site to an upper elevation. The higher the height difference the greater the amount of stored energy as this technology is constrained to the topography of the location. MGES cost varies from 50 to 100 $/MWh of stored energy and 1–2 M$/MW of installed capacity. It could be a feasible option for micro-grids, for example, small islands and isolated areas, […]
3D-Printed Graphene Scaffold Breaks Capacitor Records
Inside Science October 18, 2018 A team of researchers in the US (UC Santa Cruz, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) has made a 3D printed graphene aerogel electrode with MnO2 loading of 182.2 mg cm−2, which achieves a record-high areal capacitance of 44.13 F cm−2. the electrode can simultaneously achieve excellent capacitance normalized to area, gravimetry, and volume, which is the trade-off for most electrodes. The work successfully validates the feasibility of printing practical pseudocapacitive electrodes, which might revolutionize pseudocapacitor fabrication… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Multifunctional carbon fibres enable massless energy storage
Physics World September 7, 2018 Carbon fibres’ microstructural designs have been generated to realise a targeted mechanical property. An international team of researchers (Italy, Sweden, France) compared the microstructure and electrochemical performance for two types of commercial carbon fibre, middling mechanical properties and the hardest hitters in terms of structural strength. They found that the intermediate strength carbon fibres were much less organised but still had such high mechanical properties that even smaller crystals might still get good mechanical properties. According to the researchers exploiting the electrochemical properties of carbon fibres could drop device masses by as much as 50%… […]