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Improved High-Performance Energy Storage

Physicists at the University of North Carolina have developed new improvements for high-energy-density capacitors that can store up to seven times as much energy per unity volume as common capacitors. "The amount of energy that a capacitor can store depends on the insulating material in between the metal surfaces, called a dielectric. A polymer called PVDF has interested physicists as a possible high-performance dielectric. It exists in two forms, polarized or unpolarized. In either case, its structure is mostly frozen-in and changes only slightly when a capacitor is charged up. Mixing a second polymer called CTFE with PVDF results in a material with regions that can change their structure, enabling it to store and release unprecedented amounts of energy."

3 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Coppertops? by Alyred · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, guess all those AIs in the matrix won't need us any longer. Goodbye, reality!

  2. Great... by Valdez · · Score: 5, Funny
    Now first year EE students are going to actually *die* when they forget their cap is still charged.

    It was bad enough to just get your shiny new needlenose pliers welded together. =/

  3. Re:What I want to know is ... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thanks. Who's the President of the U.S. again? Never can remember. And my girlfriend is having this problem with her ... uh, nevermind about that.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.