Nanoflowers Improve Ultracapacitors
Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 @ 23:01:05 UTC
Topic: Aux-Equipment
 Nanoflower power: A transmission electron microscope image shows
a flowerlike manganese oxide nanoparticle deposited at the junction of
crossed carbon nanotubes. Used as an electrode material, this
nanotube-manganese-oxide composite could improve the energy-storage
ability of ultracapacitors, which show promise as powerful,
long-lasting replacements for batteries.
Credit: American Chemical Society
Imagine a cell-phone battery that recharges in a few seconds and that
you would never have to replace. That's the promise of energy-storage
devices known as ultracapacitors, but at present, they can store only
about 5 percent as much energy as lithium-ion batteries. An advance by
researchers at the Research Institute of Chemical Defense, in China,
could boost ultracapacitors' ability to store energy.
A capacitor consists of two electrodes with opposite charges, often
separated by an insulator that keeps electrons from jumping directly
between them. The researchers have developed an electrode that can
store twice as much charge as the activated-carbon electrodes used in
current ultracapacitors. The new electrode contains flower-shaped
manganese oxide nanoparticles deposited on vertically grown carbon
nanotubes...
More: http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/21375/?a=f
|
|