New supercapacitors could increase storage capacity by 3000%

In a recent study published in the scientific journal Energy Letters (USA), researchers from the Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics (IAP) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) used field-effect transistors (FETs) as collectors instead of the metal electrodes that are widely used in capacitors today.

“Using FETs as electrodes for supercapacitors is a novel approach to modulating the charge in capacitors,” said Abha Mishra, IAP professor and author of the study.

Alternating layers of MoS2 and graphene just a few atoms thick help increase electron mobility.

Current capacitors typically use metal oxide electrodes, which limits their electron mobility. So the researchers decided to create hybrid field-effect transistors, which consist of alternating layers of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and graphene.

This research has developed a very small supercapacitor that has a storage capacity and compressibility that surpasses current storage devices. Under certain conditions, the capacitance of the new supercapacitor has increased by an impressive 3000%. This makes it possible for a small storage device to store a huge amount of charge.

The size of the device is also much more compact than current supercapacitors, making them suitable for wide-ranging applications, from public lighting, consumer electronics, electric vehicles and medical devices.

According to the researchers, the new supercapacitors would combine the best of both batteries and capacitors: they could store and release large amounts of energy, making them very desirable in next-generation electronic devices. Because these supercapacitors are so small, they cannot be seen without a microscope, and the manufacturing process requires high precision.

In the future, the researchers plan to explore the possibility of replacing MoS2 with other materials to further increase the storage capacity of this supercapacitor.

(according to Devsday)

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