High-Energy and Low-Temperature Pseudocapacitor Energy Storage Technology for Post-Pandemic Green Economic Recovery

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Electrochemical energy storage (EES) technologies are an indispensable part of our daily lives, supporting electric vehicles, portable backup power supplies, and intelligent grid systems, and are essential in harnessing many renewable energy sources. Supercapacitors are among the most promising EES technologies because they allow rapid charge and discharge in a short period (less than minutes) and enable fast responses to power interruption from natural disasters, thus improving grid resilience and energy security in Canada. However, current commercial supercapacitors typically deliver a low energy density of 10 Wh/kg and poor performance at low temperatures. To overcome these limitations, UBC researchers led by Dr. Jian Liu, in collaboration with Atlas Power Technologies, a Métis-led, B.C.-based clean technology company, will use innovative materials and electrolyte approaches to develop a new type of supercapacitors with the high energy of 70 Wh/kg, excellent storage performance down to -70 °C, and intrinsic high safety. The high-energy and low-temperature tolerant supercapacitor technology will be transferred to Atlas Power Technologies and incorporated into their supercapacitor manufacturing facility in B.C., which will create 110 new high-caliber jobs and have an annual production of 11 MWh supercapacitors by 2023. This made-in-Canada supercapacitor will accelerate clean energy transition and deployment especially in remote communities and northern Canada and strongly support the post-pandemic economic recovery in a green and equitable way.