3D micro-supercapacitors for embedded electronics

Objective

The realization of high-performance micro-supercapacitors is currently a big challenge but the ineluctable applications requiring such miniaturized energy storage devices are continuously emerging, from wearable electronic gadgets to wireless sensor networks. Although they store less energy than micro-batteries, micro-supercapacitors can be charged and discharged very rapidly and exhibit a quasi-unlimited lifetime. The global scientific research is consequently largely focused on the improvement of their capacitance and energetic performances. However, to date, they are still far from being able to power sensors or electronic components.
Here I propose a 3D paradigm shift of micro-supercapacitor design to ensure increased energy storage capacities. Hydrous ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) is a pseudocapacitive material for supercapacitor electrode well-known for its high capacitance. A thin-film of ruthenium will be deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), followed by an electrochemical oxidation process, onto a high-surface-area 3D current collector prepared via an ingenious dynamic template built with hydrogen bubbles. The structural features of these 3D architectures will be controllably tailored by the processing methodologies. These electrodes will be combined with an innovative electrolyte in solid form (a protic ionogel) able to operate over an extended cell voltage. In a parallel investigation, we will develop a fundamental understanding of electrochemical reactions occurring at the nanoscale with a FIB-patterned (Focused Ion Beam) RuO2 nano-supercapacitor. The resulting 3D micro-supercapacitors should display extremely high power, long lifetime and – for the first time – energy densities competing or even exceeding that of micro-batteries. As a key achievement, prototypes will be designed using a new concept based on a self-adaptative micro-supercapacitors matrix, which arranges itself according to the global amount of energy stored.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

• natural sciences chemical sciences electrochemistry electrolysis
• natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
• engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors smart sensors

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

• Electrical energy storage
• Micro-supercapacitor
• Three-dimensional electrode
• Autonomous self-powered systems

Host institution

Beneficiaries (1)