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Improved High-Performance Energy Storage

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the electrons-in-a-volkswagon dept.

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."

5 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong University by jmcharry · · Score: 5, Informative

    From TFA, it is North Carolina State University. You are about to be set upon by wolves!

  2. polymers by wizardforce · · Score: 4, Informative

    CTFE Chlorotrifluoroethylene PVDF Polyvinylidene fluoride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinylidene_fluori de

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    Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  3. Vaporware... by Rhys · · Score: 4, Informative

    Key phrase from TFA:

    "Their predictions of higher energy density capacitors are encouraging, but have yet to be experimentally tested."

    Call me when they're being produced in something resembling quantity. Yeesh.

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  4. major faux pas in /. description of article by Yonder+Way · · Score: 4, Informative

    The editors are asleep again. The summary says the discovery was made at University of North Carolina, which really surprised me because all of the good engineering is happening at North Carolina State University.

    It might seem like a trivial slip but to those around here there is a pretty huge difference.

    Oh yeah, and DUKE SUCKS.

  5. *yawn* only seven times? by syukton · · Score: 4, Informative

    Call me when they're competing with MIT's carbon nanotube based ultracapacitors. Conventional ultracapacitors can achieve an energy density of 6Wh/kg, but the CNT ultracapacitors being researched and developed by MIT are claimed to achieve an energy density of 60Wh/kg (or, let's say, ten times more than this "new" capacitory developed by North Carolina State University).

    Overview: http://lees-web.mit.edu/lees/projects/cnt_ultracap _project.htm
    More-detailed Poster (PDF): http://lees-web.mit.edu/lees/posters/RU13_signorel li.pdf

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