Our idea of life has plenty different drivers to it, and yet nothing steers us better than that tendency to grow under all circumstances. This tendency, in particular, has brought the world some huge milestones, with technology emerging as quite a major member of the group. The reason why we hold technology in such a high regard is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which guided us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look beyond the surface for one hot second, it will become abundantly clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component, in fact, did a lot to give the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and as a result, initiated a full-blown tech revolution. Of course, the next thing this revolution did was to scale up the human experience through some outright unique avenues, but even after achieving a feat so notable, technology will somehow continue to bring forth the right goods. The same has turned more and more evident in recent times, and assuming one new discovery ends up with the desired impact, it will only put that trend on a higher pedestal moving forward.

The researching team at University of California San Diego has successfully developed a structural supercapacitor, which is a device that provides both structural support and energy storage capabilities for electronic gadgets and vehicles, and it does so without putting any extra weight in the mix. Now, if someone is to understand the significance of such a development, they’ll first have to acknowledge that, while structural supercapacitors’ concept is not entirely new, it has remained a challenge thus far to create a single device that excels at both bearing mechanical loads and storing electrical energy efficiently. This means that where, on one hand, traditional supercapacitors are great at energy storage; they don’t quite have the necessary mechanical strength to serve as structural components. On the other hand, structural materials can provide mechanical support; but they simply don’t have the sufficient energy storage potential at their disposal. Fortunately enough, UC San Diego’s latest brainchild solves that conundrum big time. According to certain reports, the new structural supercapacitor is made from your standard supercapacitor components, meaning a pair of electrode surfaces separated by a solid electrolyte. The stated electrolyte is what facilitates the flow of ions between the electrodes. Anyway, helping the device standout is the fact that the electrodes used here are actually made from carbon fibers woven into a fabric, thus birthing a material that can very well conceive for the device a substantial structural strength. Talk about this carbon fiber fabric, it is also coated with a special mixture composed of a conductive polymer and reduced graphene oxide so to enhance ion flow and energy storage capacity. Moving on to the solid electrolyte, it is essentially a blend of epoxy resin and a conductive polymer called polyethylene oxide. The stated epoxy resin brings to fore structural support, whereas the incorporation of polyethylene oxide fosters ion mobility by creating a network of pores throughout the electrolyte. One thing we cannot go without mentioning here relates to polyethylene oxide varying across the electrolyte and creating what are known as concentration gradients. With areas adjacent to the electrodes featuring a higher concentration of polyethylene oxide, the ions there are able to flow faster and more freely at the electrode-electrolyte interface, eventually boosting electrochemical performance.

That being said, you can raise a fair argument against this mechanism saying a higher polyethylene oxide concentration is likely to create more pores and weaken the material. However, to their credit, the researchers found equilibrium by manufacturing the central region of the electrolyte using a lower polyethylene oxide concentration. This maneuver of theirs directly translated to an optimal structural support existing seamlessly alongside an efficient flow of ions.

“This gradient configuration is the trick to achieving optimal performance in the electrolyte. Instead of using a single electrolyte configuration, we structured it so that the edges that contact the electrodes have higher electrical performance while the middle is mechanically stronger,” said Tse Nga (Tina) Ng, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego.

To validate their idea, the researchers got their structural supercapacitor to build a miniature solar-powered boat. During this test, the supercapacitor was molded to form the boat’s hull and then fitted with a small motor and circuit. Once that bit was over, the circuit in question was connected to a solar cell, which in turn, was exposed to sunlight. By doing so, the team succeeded in creating a charging support for the supercapacitor, readying it up to relay that power towards the boat’s motor. This is where they got their prized validation, considering the boat would cruise across the water and display the efficacy of this innovative energy storage solution.

In regards to the immediate future, the researchers hope to overcome a big limitation of supercapacitors having a lower energy density compared to batteries.

“Our future work will focus on increasing the energy density of our supercapacitor and making it comparable to some battery packs,” said Lulu Yao, a materials science and engineering Ph.D. student in Ng’s lab and the first author of this study. “The ultimate goal would be to achieve both higher energy density and power density.”