© Anaïs Ferris –
LAAS-CNRS
Image obtained
from scanning tunneling microscopy
on a porous
3D-gold structure.
(September 30, 2015) Micro-supercapacitors
are a promising alternative to micro-batteries because of their high power and
long lifetime. They have been in development for about a decade but until now
they have stored considerably less energy than micro-batteries, which has
limited their application. Now researchers in the Laboratoire d'analyse et
d'architecture des systèmes (LAAS-CNRS)1 in Toulouse and the INRS2 in Quebec
have developed an electrode material that means electrochemical capacitors
produce results similar to batteries, yet retain their particular advantages.
This work was published on September 30, 2015 in Advanced Materials.
With the development of on-board electronic systems3 and
wireless technologies, the miniaturization of energy storage devices has become
necessary. Micro-batteries are very widespread and store a large quantity of
energy due to their chemical properties. However, they are affected by
temperature variations and suffer from low electric power and limited lifetime
(often around a few hundred charge/discharge cycles). By contrast,
micro-supercapacitors have high power and theoretically infinite lifetime, but
only store a low amount of energy.
Micro-supercapacitors have been the subject of an increasing
amount of research over the last ten years, but no concrete applications have
come from it. Their lower energy density, i.e. the amount of energy that they
can store in a given volume or surface area, has meant that they were not able
to power sensors or microelectronic components. Researchers in the Intégration
de systèmes de gestion de l'énergie team at LAAS-CNRS, in collaboration with
the INRS of Quebec, have succeeded in removing this limitation by combining the
best of micro-supercapacitors and micro-batteries.