From electric vehicles to laptops, Colin Ballas devices can benefit from a new type of capacitor that combines the best features of traditional devices to store a large amount of charge and release it quickly.
The electrostatic capacitor stores the charge on the surface of two conductor plates separated by the insulation layer.
Their advantage is that they can store and release energy faster than the battery.
This makes them ideal candidates for replacing batteries in devices that require rapid discharge, such as electric vehicles.
However, the capacitor can only maintain a limited charge.
The super capacitor for chemical and electrical storage charge has a larger capacity, but only the best battery.
Now, a prototype capacitor has been made, which is capable of storing power as intensively as a super capacitor, but providing power at a speed comparable to that of an electrostatic capacitor.
It was made by Gary Rubloff, a physicist at the University of Maryland, and a colleague from the Korea Institute of Advanced Science and Technology.
The secret of prototype performance is that it actually has 10 billion tiny capacitors per square centimeter, and only 50 nanometers per capacitor.
The electrodes connect the mini devices so that they can function as a unit.
The team began to create such a small capacitor by anointing-adding a layer of oxide-a piece of aluminum foil to form a regularly spaced nano-hole array on its surface.
Each hole is then filled with three nested concentric material layers that act as traditional conductors-insulator-
Conductor arrangement of capacitors.
The conductive layer is made of titanium nitrogen and the insulating layer is made of alumina.
They are placed in a highly accurate nano-structure deposition method called atomic layer deposition (see image).
Rubloff & colon says the technology makes it possible to make thin layers of metal with unprecedented precision;
That's why the semiconductor industry is aggressively pursuing atomic layer deposition to make the next generation of computer chips, he added.
The produce of capacitors can to electrostatic capacitors typical of speed transfer energy speed allow a kilo of transfer a trillion watts of energy-enough to provide 10,000 100 of energy --
Watt bulb.
It can also store energy as intensively as a super capacitor, keeping 1 kg joules at 2500.
"Our main goal is [
For this technology
As part of a hybrid battery
The capacitance system of electric vehicles, "said Rubloff.
"But there's a lot [potential]
Small scale applications]including]
Better electronic storage systems for mobile phones or laptops.
"The next step is to adjust the design to improve performance-for example, the team will try deeper holes that can hold larger capacitors to store more energy.
Magazine reference and colon;
Natural nanotechnology (DOI: 10. 1038/nnano. 2009. 37)