Imagine if your laptop or smartphone could be charged in a minute - or if an electric car could be fully powered in 10 minutes.
A new study, conducted by a team of scientists from the University of California, USA, and published this Friday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could soon make this possible.
In the course of the study, the scientists discovered how ions, the electrically charged particles in a battery, move around in a complex network of tiny pores.
The discovery could improve the efficiency of ion movement in electrolytes and increase their speed, opening the door to the development of new superconsensors with much shorter charging times.
Supercapacitors are capable of storing a far greater amount of electrical energy than traditional capacitors, and can already be charged very quickly compared to ordinary batteries.
“There are various chemical engineering techniques used to study flow in porous materials, such as oil reservoirs and water filtration, but they have not been used in energy storage systems until now,” explains Ankur Gupta, professor of Chemistry and Biological Engineering at the University of California and lead author of the study.
The discovery is important not only for energy storage in vehicles and electronic devices, but also for power grids, since fluctuations in energy demand require efficient storage to avoid waste during periods of low demand and guarantee a rapid supply during high demand.
Superconsensors, energy storage devices based on the accumulation of ions in their pores, have fast charging times and a longer lifespan than batteries.
“The main attraction of supercapacitors lies in their speed,” explains Gupta. “So how can we speed up their charging and energy release? By moving the ions more efficiently.”
“That's the big step we've taken with our work,” says Ankur Gupta. “We've found the missing link.”
