MCA: Fabrication of Structural Organic Supercapacitors

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Energy storage devices that offer fast charging and long lifetime are essential for powering wireless electronics in our daily lives. This award supports fundamental research on energy storage technologies based on structural supercapacitors, which will potentially provide high peak power for rapid charging and extend device lifetime to minimize maintenance costs. Structural supercapacitors are multi-functional devices that integrates mechanical and electrochemical functions, reducing weight and maximizing the use of structural space to increase the available energy capacity. However, there are knowledge gaps on how to design and fabricate this class of devices. This project will contribute new knowledge related to electrodeposition processing that enables precise tuning of materials and device structures to attain unprecedented energy density and mechanical strength in a new generation of structural supercapacitors. The research and outreach activities will engage under-represented students and foster the training and development of a future diverse workforce that works towards energy sustainability, promoting our national welfare and prosperity.The goal of this research is to precisely create hierarchical composites and attain the desired mechanical and electrochemical attributes by building on uniquely stable redox polymers and scalable electrodeposition techniques. The research team will establish systematic design principles for the cell subcomponents (electrodes and electrolytes) and, when the cell is put together, examine the entire structure by ultrasound diagnostics to understand interfacial interactions and evaluate the cell multifunctional efficiency. Non-destructive, low-cost ultrasound techniques will directly probe the device mechanical properties and reveal their changes over time, particularly to identify chemical versus structural degradation mechanisms that must be mitigated to achieve long cycle life and highly durable systems. This project merges the fields of electrochemical storage with material mechanics in convergence research, to deliver structure-processing-property relationships for organic structural supercapacitors and a blueprint for practical fabrication processes compatible with manufacturing in the future. The project will also allow the principal investigator to enhance her research program through partnerships with investigators at other institutions, building expertise to address the challenges of fabricating structural energy storage devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.