{"id":11021,"date":"2016-07-30T13:18:58","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T20:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=11021"},"modified":"2016-07-30T13:18:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-30T20:18:58","slug":"graphene-supercapacitor-shows-promise-and-longevity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/graphene-supercapacitor-shows-promise-and-longevity\/","title":{"rendered":"Graphene Supercapacitor Shows Promise and Longevity"},"content":{"rendered":"

A forever battery would be nice, wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Something low cost that could be recharged in seconds, time after time, indefinitely, and be about as environmentally sensitive as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club combined \u2013 there\u2019s the ideal battery.<\/p>\n

That might seem like a miracle, and it relies on that miracle material \u2013 graphene \u2013 for its many astounding properties to help make this flexible battery a reality.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Han Lin with graphene supercapacitor printed on 3D printer in background<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Han Lin of Swinburne University in New South Wales, Australia has 3D printed his prototype battery at a much lower cost than with previous production techniques.\u00a0 The immediate \u201ctake\u201d on this material is that it could be used in things like watch straps<\/a>, powering the attached timekeeper, or in (inter)active sports clothing.<\/p>\n

Of course, this blog looks for larger applications, such as something that could be used in electric aircraft.\u00a0 Graphene has the potential to be a structural material (about a hundred times stronger than steel, according to 3ders.org<\/em>) and a powerhouse of electrical storage.<\/p>\n

Graphene has been \u201cprinted\u201d before by Dr.Richard Kaner and his graduate student Maher El-Kady<\/a> at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).\u00a0 With nothing more than a standard LightScribe DVD burner, El-Kady created over 100 microscale supercapacitors in fewer than 30 minutes on a discs coated with a graphite oxide film.\u00a0 This took place over four years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Huge

Huge surface area made possible by two-dimensional graphene opens new potential for lightweight batteries<\/p><\/div>\n

Printing flexible supercapacitors on what looks like a standard 3D printer<\/a>, Dr.\u00a0Lin presented these new energy storage devices at Fresh Science Victoria 2016<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year.\u00a0 Although the only note on the supercapacitor\u2019s performance is that they equal available lithium-ion batteries, their light weight and potentially inexpensive fabrication should encourage further development.<\/p>\n

The fact that graphene is two-dimensional carbon makes it a more easily recycled or reused material than lithium, which presents issues for disposal when batteries reach their life limit.<\/p>\n

We look forward to seeing where Han Lin and his researchers can take this low-cost technique for manufacturing, and whether there is additional performance to be pulled from this material.<\/p>\n