supercapacitors amp up as an alternative to batteries - battery power storage

Imagine charging your phone in seconds.
Or think about how traffic will change if an electric car takes only a few minutes of fuel.
Fast technologyfire power-
Ups has been in the field of super capacitors for decades.
The super capacitors not only charge faster than the battery, but also last longer, because they do not suffer physical losses during the charging and discharge of the exhausted battery.
They also have some security advantages.
However, the super size of the super capacitor must be much larger in order to maintain the same energy as batteria and their super capacitors
High costs are holding them back.
However, some scientists believe that recent breakthroughs have made the fast, reliable and potentially safer energy storage of super capacitors (sometimes referred to as super capacitors) accessible when competing with batteries
"The super capacitors are a bit like lightning in a bottle if you want to," said Michael Sunde, vice president of Maxwell technology, a leading manufacturer of new technologies, it sells thousands of buses in China.
Batteries anyone who doesn't charge enough on an important phone or tries to appease a kid whose toy truck suddenly stops working, they all know the limits of the battery.
Battery charging takes a long time, which is a big problem for the electric vehicle market, and their safety often becomes a problem.
Just this summer, a large retailer had to recall replacement batteries for thousands of Apple laptops, and only one of many laptop and mobile phone manufacturers recalled their batteries due to safety concerns. (
For knowledge of batteries, see the relevant quiz: "What you don't know. ")
Earlier this year, battery-related fires also helped Boeing's new Dreamliner land temporarily.
In one of the worst tragedies caused by the battery failure, two crew members were killed in 2010 crashes of the Dubai UPS plane, and investigators were linked to the flames caused by the battery cargo. (
See related story: "reinvent flight for fuel efficiency: Five technologies on the runway. ")
The dangerous trap of battery use is part of helping people regain interest in the super capacitor.
Security is more important than in the past, said Peter Harop, chairman of IDTechEx, a market research firm based in Cambridge, USA. K.
He and other fans of emerging technologies believe that as the company seeks new, more powerful power supplies that are safer than today's batteries, super capacitors will flourish.
A super capacitor uses an electrostatic storage of electricity, not a chemical that makes it difficult for the battery to manage.
This means that their performance is more predictable, that their materials are more reliable and less susceptible to temperature changes, and that they can be fully discharged for more safe transportation, Harops said. (
See related photos: "Seven ingredients for better electric car batteries. ")
Opening of super capacitor?
Scientists have long known that energy can be stored as a charge, not as a chemical reagent like a battery.
Benjamin Franklin's famous experiment was made with a row of Leiden jars, which he called "batteries" after the military term of the weapon, in fact an earlier version of the capacitor.
However, recent breakthroughs in super capacitor materials may make them competitors in more applications.
"The super capacitor is improved much faster than the battery," Harops said . ".
Similarly, the super capacitor has been on the verge of commercial success for many years.
For example, 1995 of the headlines indicate that the super capacitor is "soaring forward ".
"But they are still a small business compared to rechargeable batteries, mainly because they store relatively little energy compared to conventional batteries.
In the battery, the storage charge is called "energy density", the difference from "power density", or the speed of energy transfer.
Compared with lithium-ion batteries, the energy density of the super capacitors dwarfs, and lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in today's mobile phones and laptops.
At a given weight and size, the energy of the lithium ion battery may be 20 times that of the super capacitor.
This means that the iPhone 5 may need to be two to 3 inch thick to hold the Super capacitor, making it a device that is barely worn out.
On the other hand, the super capacitor performs well in terms of power density.
They pack great energy and they can charge quickly and release energy in a fast current burst.
Think about the sharp electrical bumps that can happen after rubbing errors on the shag carpet.
Or, perhaps better, think about the electrical stripes that illuminate the summer storm.
Sund said the maximum sales from the super capacitor maker Maxwell technologies went to the bus manufacturer.
The operator uses a super capacitor to capture the energy generated when a bus brakes and then releases the energy to help the bus start at the dead station.
For this purpose, the super capacitor can completely replace the battery on the hybrid bus, and all
Electric buses need fewer batteries.
Sund said that this may be the best way to continue selling super capacitors as a supplement to fuel cells or engines.
"The super capacitor is usually a supplement to the battery," he said . "
"So we try to stay away from what we call 'battery attack '.
"Despite this, the super capacitor still completely replaces the battery elsewhere.
One example is wind turbines, especially those that are hard to reach at sea.
For example, a super capacitor can provide the burst power required to adjust the turbine blade under changing wind conditions.
Batteries have traditionally met this demand.
But over time, the batteries will wear out because their chemicals will lose their effectiveness.
Because they do not rely on chemicals to store electricity, the life of the capacitors is much longer, which is an important factor in the turbine, because the height and remote positioning of the turbine make their maintenance costs high.
Some European cars also use super capacitors in a bus-like way.
Europe "Micro
Hybrid cars usually turn themselves off when idling. That "start-
The "Stop" technology is usually battery-only, but the French carmaker PSA uses Maxwell super capacitors on Citroen and Peugeot's cars.
However, the battery continues to occupy most of the micro-batteries
The hybrid market, because super capacitors and accompanying electronics can add several hundred dollars to the cost of the car.
Supporters of the technology believe that in the long run, the cost of Super caps is lower because they are longer than the battery and save more fuel because of the more reliable work.
Still, when it comes to Micro
So far, the initial purchase price of hybrid vehicles has exceeded the efficiency and long-term
Long-term cost of ownership, says Sund.
Overcoming these obstacles may help the super capacitor compete better in energy density.
Many scientists are concerned about graphene, which is only one atom thick and has generated a lot of excitement since it was refined about a decade ago.
It turns out that the manufacturing cost of graphene is high.
But a recent lab has shown that a cheap ordinary home device can produce cheap graphene. quality sheets.
A graduate student uses a DVD recorder to manufacture graphene in a chemical laboratory run by Ric Kaner, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The DVD drive has a feature called light scribe that etching the image on the surface of the DVD.
The results show that the laser also converts graphite oxide from ordinary materials into graphene sheets.
The discovery was described in Science last year.
The graphene produced by the laser has a characteristic that makes it particularly promising in the super capacitor: it will have holes or air holes.
This highly porous graphene can accumulate many layers, and both sides of each layer can be exposed.
In the experiment, the energy density of the super capacitor made of graphene has doubled or tripled. A DVD-
The size disc of Ric Kaner lab can accommodate microSuper capacitor.
The UCLAA single-layer carbon atom does not store much energy, Kaner said.
"That's what we're doing when you can stack hundreds or even thousands of foreign lines.
"In addition to saying that he hopes this new material will not appear in ten or even five years, he will not predict when this new material will appear in commercial super capacitors.
Even so, the super capacitor may work with the battery.
"So far, they can't replace the batteries," Kaner said . ".
But if they end up being able to store enough energy to compete with the battery, says Kaner, the super capacitors have key advantages, including the fact that they can provide high power and use it for millions of cycles.
"Also, unlike the batteries, they don't overcharge and they don't overheat.
Harops of IDTechEX said: "The safety advantage of the super capacitor will grow with the growth of portable energy demand.
The capacitor itself is also concerned about safety because any technology that stores energy is potentially dangerous.
But he said manufacturers are phasing out toxic and flammable chemicals used for super capacitors, and even the safety records of these super capacitors are better than lithium-ion batteries.
At the same time, as the battery grows larger, battery safety will become a problem, such as the one now used in electric vehicles.
The bigger the battery, the more likely it is to go wrong, Harops added.
"For something like a mobile phone, it's easier to keep the battery safe than a car.
"This story is part of a special series to explore energy issues.
For more, please visit the huge energy challenges.