I2I Phase 1: Optimization of a flexible hybrid electrochemical energy storage system for wearable devices

为了满足当前和未来能源格局的需求，比以往任何时候都更需要诸如电池和超级电容器之类的电化学能量存储设备。虽然电池可以存储相对大量的能量，但能量的传输速率相当慢。相比之下，超级电容器具有快速的能量传输能力，但仅存储少量能量。因此，期望创建联合收割机，其结合了两种概念的优点。我们的团队最近发明了一种新型的电池-超级电容器混合体，该混合体制造简单，由丰富，环保且相对具有成本效益的材料组成。它还具有快速充电能力，非常薄，机械灵活。因此，它非常适合为可穿戴电子产品和智能纺织品供电。在目前的项目中，我们优化了混合动力车的设计，以进一步提高其能量含量，同时增加能量存储的持续时间。我们还开发了一种更大的原型，可用于为锂离子电池供电的可穿戴设备（如智能手表或健身追踪器）充电，以提高技术水平并展示我们发明的商业化潜力。

Electrochemical energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors are required more than ever to fulfill the demand of the present and the future energy landscape. While batteries can store a relatively large amount of energy, the transfer rate of energy is rather slow. In contrast, supercapacitors have fast energy transfer abilities but store only a low amount of energy. Hence, it is desirable to create battery-supercapacitor hybrids which combine the advantages of both concepts. Our group recently invented a novel battery-supercapacitor hybrid which is simple to manufacture and consists of abundant, environmentally-benign and relatively cost effective materials. It also has fast charging abilities and is very thin and mechanically flexible. It is therefore very suitable to power wearable electronics and smart textiles. In the current project, we optimize the design of the hybrid to further improve its energy content while at the same increasing the duration the energy can be stored. We also develop a larger prototype that can be used to charge a lithium-ion battery powered wearable device such as a smartwatch or fitness tracker to increase the technology level and to demonstrate the potential for commercialisation of our invention.