Could Atomically Thin Layers Bring A 19x Energy Jump In Battery Capacitors? (popularmechanics.com)
- Reference: 0173849927
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/05/12/1647232/could-atomically-thin-layers-bring-a-19x-energy-jump-in-battery-capacitors
- Source link: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a60732620/capacitor-energy-storage-breakthrough/
> In a study [2]published in Science , lead author Sang-Hoon Bae, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, demonstrates a [3]novel heterostructure that curbs energy loss, enabling capacitors to store more energy and charge rapidly without sacrificing durability... Within capacitors, ferroelectric materials offer high maximum polarization. That's useful for ultra-fast charging and discharging, but it can limit the effectiveness of energy storage or the "relaxation time" of a conductor. "This precise control over relaxation time holds promise for a wide array of applications and has the potential to accelerate the development of highly efficient energy storage systems," the study authors write.
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> Bae makes the change — one he unearthed while working on something completely different — by sandwiching 2D and 3D materials in atomically thin layers, using chemical and nonchemical bonds between each layer. He says a thin 3D core inserts between two outer 2D layers to produce a stack that's only 30 nanometers thick, about 1/10th that of an average virus particle... The sandwich structure isn't quite fully conductive or nonconductive.
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> This semiconducting material, then, allows the energy storage, with a density up to 19 times higher than commercially available ferroelectric capacitors, while still achieving 90 percent efficiency — also better than what's currently available.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader [4]schwit1 for sharing the article.
[1] https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a60732620/capacitor-energy-storage-breakthrough/
[2] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2835
[3] https://www.newswise.com/articles/view/809791/?sc=swhr&xy=10053224
[4] https://www.slashdot.org/~schwit1
breakdown voltage (Score:2)
Wouldn't the breakdown voltage be very small for an atom thick layer of dielectric?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes it will.
Silicon dioxide is on the order of 2-3V/nm (it depends) so a 30nm thick layer of a similar dielectric would be on the order of 60-100V. You have to optimize the number of cells you can put in series versus the series resistance.
Silicon dioxide is a very, very good insulator, however this material system appears to be closer to a semiconductor, so the breakdown voltage is likely even lower.
This could still have significant application in electronics where having 2 or 3 V is enough voltage and wh
Re: (Score:3)
It sounds though as if he can stack the layers and, if you can stack enough you can still get quite a large total voltage across all of them even if you only have a tiny voltage across each individual layer: think capacitors in series.
Re: breakdown voltage (Score:2)
Yeah, that makes sense. But the physics gets weird when you have electron shells so close to the surface of your material. Seems like electrons would sometimes hop across like in a semiconductor band gap.
I'm just making wild guesses based on the very limited knowledge I need for my work.
Re: (Score:2)
But if the layers are thinner, you can fit more of them in the same space. This could well offset the difference in breakdown voltage.
We know thw answer (Score:1)
[1]Betteridge [wikipedia.org] has you covered.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, and it's too bad because the science seems really interesting. In fact, I'm surprised the peer reviewers didn't save themselves some work and just return their forms with "sorry, Betteridge says no".
Re: We know thw answer (Score:1)
This is the problem with science vs science reporting. The technical stuff is really interesting, but the application potential is basically marketing bait invented by someone with a bachelor degree in journalism, which only inserts to drive media metrics that may drive grant funding.
So the answer is, not like this, the tech allows for increased density at extreme cost and unproven at production, also, due to the scale, the electrical potential must be very small, thus it is probably great for electronics a
Leakage (Score:2)
Self discharge will probably be an issue with such thin dielectrics.