TECH

With the partnership of scientists from Russia, a “green” supercapacitor was created to power wearable electronics

The remarkable qualities of supercapacitors - high power density, high charging speed, long life and economy - promise a brilliant life in a wide range of technical systems, from mobile and portable electronics to electric vehicles. The creation of an ecological, flexible, energy-intensive and safe supercapacitor is a problem that a group of scientists with the participation of representatives of Russia has committed to solve.
In a study published in the Journal of Energy Storage, scientists from Skoltech, Aalto University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced the creation of a high-performance, economical and ecological elastic supercapacitor.
The development is based on sodium chloride (NaCl), which is in all kitchens, because it is common table salt. A hydrogel in the form of a sodium chloride solution has replaced the ionic liquids commonly used in supercapacitors. The latter play the role of an electrolyte, often toxic to the environment. As for the electrolyte in the form of a sodium chloride solution, it can be dangerous only in large quantities and immediately.
"To increase the specific energy consumption of supercapacitors, ionic liquids are generally used, which are not only dangerous and harmful to the environment, but also significantly lower in specific power than aqueous electrolytes with greater conductivity," said Tanya Kallio, professor of the University of Aalto.
Flexible current collectors (electrodes) based on single-walled carbon nanotube films (indicated by the abbreviation (SWCNT) in the illustration above) give elasticity to the new supercapacitor. The inner layer of the supercapacitor is made of solid state material in the form plate electrodes made of nitrogen doped graphene (NG). filled with hydrogel with sodium chloride The use of a hydrogel allows a high specific energy consumption of a supercapacitor of compact design, without sacrificing the environmental compatibility of the electrolyte.
«We made a prototype in which productivity remained unchanged after thousands of tensile cycles at 50% deformation. The cost of manufacturing supercapacitors can be further reduced using 3D printing and other modern production technologies, ”said Albert Nasibulin, professor at Skoltech.

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