I-Corps: Plasma enhanced electrochemical capacitors

便携式电子设备的广泛使用，例如智能手机和其他无线设备，依赖于耐用的电能存储设备以及快速的能量输送。虽然正在进行重大的努力和发展，以提高提供这种能量的电池的能量容量，但相关技术的一个主要问题是相对较差的能力和提供能量的速度。例如，当使用闪光灯摄影时，这反映在电池的快速耗尽上。电化学电容器（ECs）是一类新的器件，可用于有效地产生快速的电力脉冲，是本文的讨论主题。该项目的目标是为了缓解目前使用的ec的一个主要问题，即虽然能源肯定可以在短时间内供应，但能源的数量通常非常少。该项目的成功完成以及高能量密度ec的广泛应用将对技术产生重大影响。能量增强的ec可以广泛使用，(a)在无线应用和移动电话中，(b)供消费者使用，例如电子礼品卡和数码相机，例如，作为移动电话中的闪光灯，以及(c)在大型公用事业中，包括医疗设备，汽车应用等。该项目旨在产生巨大的社会和环境影响，例如，通过使用ec可以进一步加速电动汽车的部署，ec可以在减少电池负担的同时提供持续的加速。改进的电容和伴随的能量密度将导致ec更广泛的部署，甚至有可能取代电池。提议的工作涉及应用创新方法，通过通过仔细控制等离子体处理增加电荷来提高ec的能量密度。此外，电荷的引入可以通过利用赝电容的贡献来提高组分纳米碳电容，除了名义上的双层电荷积累。在初步实验中，观察到电容的三倍增强，这使得与增强电荷密度有关的假设更加可信。基于这些原理，在PI的实验室中构建了一个原型EC设备。虽然最初的原理证明是通过相对较好的控制纳米结构，如石墨烯或碳纳米管来证明的，但建议将该原理扩展到更广泛使用的纳米碳，如活性炭（AC）。通过相对廉价的工业规模等离子体加工，在ec中制造更高能量密度的电极将产生巨大的商业影响。与电容器制造商和EC行业的密切互动将使团队有机会了解设备制造中涉及的问题，并培养创造性的工程态度。净电荷密度的几个组成部分，包括静电电容（例如，空间电荷、双层电荷等）以及量子电容效应，将澄清它们在商业规模ec中的效用。

The widespread use of portable electronic devices, e.g., smart phones, and other wireless devices, relies on durable electrical energy storage devices as well as rapid energy delivery. While significant effort and development is underway to improve the energy capacity of batteries which provide such energy, a major issue with the related technology is the relatively poor capability and rate at which at which the energy can be provided. This is reflected for example, in the rapid draining of the battery, e.g., when flash photography is used. Electrochemical capacitors (ECs) constitute a new class of devices that may be used to efficiently produce rapid spurts of electrical power and constitute the topic of discussion in the proposed work. The goals of the project are aimed at alleviating a major issue of presently used ECs, which is that while energy can definitely be supplied in a short time span, the quantity of energy is typically very small. The successful completion of the project, followed by a wide implementation of high energy density ECs will then have a major technological impact. The energy enhanced ECs could be used broadly, (a) in wireless applications and mobile phones, (b) for consumer use, such as e-gift cards and digital cameras, e.g., as flashes in mobile phones, as well as (c) in larger scale utilities, incorporating medical devices, automotive applications, etc. The project aims towards a large societal and environmental impact, e.g., the deployment of electric vehicles could be further accelerated through the use of ECs, which provide sustained acceleration with reduced burden on the battery. The improved capacitance and concomitant energy density would lead to the wider deployment of the ECs, with the potential to even substitute for batteries. The proposed work involves the application of innovative methods to enhance the energy density of the ECs, through the addition of electrical charges introduced through carefully controlled plasma processing. Moreover, charge introduction can enhance the constituent nanocarbon capacitance through exploiting pseudocapacitive contributions in addition to the nominal double-layer charge accumulation. In preliminary experiments, a three-fold enhancement of the capacitance was observed, which lends credence to the hypotheses related to enhanced charge density. Based on these principles, a prototype EC device was constructed in the PI's laboratory. While the initial proof of principle was shown through relatively well controlled nanostructures, e.g., graphene or carbon nanotubes, it is proposed to extend the principles to more widely used nanocarbons such as activated carbon (AC). A large commercial impact would accrue from the fabrication of higher energy density electrodes in the ECs, through relatively cheap industrial scale plasma processing. The close interactions with capacitor manufacturers and with the EC industry would give the team the opportunity to understand issues involved in device manufacture and foster creative engineering attitudes. Several constituent components of the net charge density, incorporating the electrostatic capacitance (e.g., space charge, double-layer, etc.) as well as the quantum capacitance effects would be clarified with respect to their utility in commercial scale ECs.