Efficient manufacturing method for stretchy supercapacitors

Researchers from the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) and Brazil’s Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel) have shown how a supercapacitor can be efficiently manufactured into a high-performance and low-cost power storage device that can be easily integrated into footwear, clothing and accessories. Their research, published in the journal Nanoscale, indicates how these supercapacitors could provide a significant boost to the ‘battery’ life of smart watches, fitness trackers and other Internet of Things devices.

A supercapacitor is a means to store and release electricity, like a typical battery, but it does so with far quicker recharging and discharging times. As explained by Professor Ravi Silva, Director of the ATI and Head of the Nano-Electronics Centre at the University of Surrey, “Supercapacitors are key to ensuring that 5G and 6G technologies reach their full potential.

“While supercapacitors can certainly boost the lifespan of wearable consumer technologies, they have the potential to be revolutionary when you think about their role in autonomous vehicles and AI-assisted smart sensors that could help us all conserve energy,” Prof Silva continued. “This is why it’s important that we create a low-cost and environmentally friendly way to produce this incredibly promising energy storage technology.”

In the new paper, the researchers describe a procedure for the development of flexible supercapacitors based on carbon nanomaterials. This method, said to be cheaper and less time-consuming than others, involves transferring aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays from a silicon wafer to a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix. This is then coated in a material called polyaniline (PANI), which stores energy through a mechanism known as pseudocapacitance, offering impressive energy storage properties with high mechanical integrity.

“The device showed a good capacitance retention of 76% after 5000 cycles and was able to maintain 80% of its electrochemical properties while being measured at different bending angles, demonstrating excellent mechanical agility performance under extreme conditions and some of the highest carbon-based energy storage properties,” the researchers wrote of their enhanced, wafer-thin supercapacitor.

Prof Silva concluded, “The future is certainly bright for supercapacitors.”

Image credit: University of Surrey.

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