Let’s understand what supercapacitors are and how they work, fundamental devices for energy storage and transmission.
In the discovery of supercapacitors, researchers at the University of Boulder-Colorado have published a revolutionary study that will change the use of these devices that transmit energy. The novelty concerns the law that regulates the movement of ions in supercapacitors.
Supercapacitors – or supercapacitors or ultracapacitors – are devices that store and quickly release large quantities of energy. The movement of ions in these devices is fundamental to their capacity and energy efficiency. It is described by Fick’s law for diffusion and Ohm’s law for electrical conduction. That is, at least, until recently.
A team of researchers has revolutionized the way of understanding movement finding the inability of the two laws cited to accurately describe the behavior of ions in every operating condition of the devices. Recall that supercapacitors are used in numerous applications. They charge electric cars, for example, but also smartphones and computers having high power densities and a long life. Let’s see how these capacities are regulated according to the latest key discoveries.
The law governing supercapacitor ions
The researchers have devised a new law to explain ion transport which considers the complex interactions between ions, solvents, porous surfaces of the electrodes of the devices. A law that replaces the two previously attributed to the movement and offers a more complete description by integrating the principles of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
The Boulder research team created a mathematical model to simulate the movement of ions under real conditions. To do so, they included effects such as the variation in ion concentrations as well as the distribution of pore sizes. This model is able to provide better performance predictions of the devices in various operating situations and by using it the researchers managed to design electrodes with an optimized structure capable of improving the capacity and charging (or discharging) speed of the supercapacitors.
This means that you can have more efficient devices with a longer lifespan. Consequently, by revolutionizing the design and production of devices, you can have faster charging times of electric cars while at the same time increasing their autonomy. Considering the green turning point that the EU imposes, it would be a good starting point. Furthermore, PCs, laptops and smartphones could have almost instant charging and longer battery life. Completing the revolution is the use of supercapacitors to stabilize energy networks by storing excess energy generated from renewable sources.
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