can nanoscopic meadows drive electric cars forward? - energy storage solutions

Grass and flowers on Colin Ballas nano grass may be the key to increasing the energy stored in the super capacitor, a device that can replace high-powered batteries
Demand for applications like electric vehicles.
The batteries are slow to charge because they store energy in a chemical way.
In contrast, the capacitors common in electronic products are very short
Long-term storage of electric energy that is almost instantly charged but has little energy.
In recent years, capacitors that have been able to store thousands of times more than standard capacitors, known as super capacitors, have been developed, and leading experts suggest that they can power future devices and even electric vehicles.
First, however, their energy storage capacity needs to be improved further.
Chinese researchers have just reported a new approach that can make them practical.
Super capacitors are simple devices.
They are charged by applying voltage to the two electrodes suspended in the solution so that positive ions move to one electrode and negative ions move to the other.
The energy is stored because the electrode is covered with a porous material that absorbs ions like a sponge, usually activated carbon.
So far, the increase in the capacity of the super capacitor comes from the manufacture of carbon sponges with more pores.
Now, Zhang Hao from the Beijing Institute of Chemical Defense in China and colleagues from Peking University have taken different approaches.
They store ions in manganese oxide (MnO)
, Material much larger than the capacity of activated carbon to ions.
However, although the MnO keeps the ions well, it has a high resistance, making it difficult to attract ions from the beginning by charging it with voltage.
The researchers pointed out that by creating a "nano-scale" of the microstructure-on the messy carbon nanotubes grassland growing on metal foil, each fuzzy flowers flower of about 100 nm
See picture, right).
Zhang said that each flower is attached to the blades of at least two pieces of grass, which, like an electronic highway, forms a powerful electrical connection to the flower.
The normally resistant MnO can then be charged to attract ions that it can store so well.
Therefore, the performance of nanomeadow is 10 times better than using MnO alone and can be stored than carbon-
Based on the electrodes in the existing super capacitor.
The complex structure of the nano-glass can resist mechanical degradation, and the performance of the super capacitor will decrease over time, Zhang said.
After 3% charge and discharge cycles, the energy capacity of the new equipment has only decreased by 20,000, higher than other
Capacity design.
Mike Barnes of the University of Manchester, UK, said this is an interesting way to improve the performance of the super capacitor.
But he pointed out that a design available to the market needs to be more resistant to physical degradation.
In the vehicle, the super capacitor charges when braking, which can occur 60 times per hour in urban conditions.
A van of five. day, 8-
One hour a week will reach 120,000 cycles in a year.
According to the figure of Zhang, this will reduce the storage capacity of the super capacitor by at least 15%, which needs to be improved before the nanomeadow design is ready to go on the road.
Magazine reference and colon;
Nano Express, classification number and colon cancer. 10.