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| Lightning CEO and founder Richard Hatfield is one visionary who believes developments like this will soon see super batteries. (Photo Loz Blain -NewAtlas) |
THE way in which soft contact lenses are made
now also offers electric car builders and cellphone makers hope of better
batteries.
This after researchers at the University of
Surrey and Augmented Optics, in collaboration with the University of Bristol,
discovered new materials offering an alternative to battery power and proven to
be between 10 and a thousand fold more powerful than the existing battery
alternative — a super-capacitor.
Their research follows on that of researchers at
the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, who in 2014
announced a new carbon-based super-capacitor.
Like the Aussies, Augmented Optics hope their
development will translate into very high energy density super-capacitors,
making it possible to recharge your mobile phone, laptop or other mobile devices
in just a few seconds.
The new technology could revolutionise electric
cars, allowing the possibility for them to recharge as quickly as it takes for a
regular non-electric car to refuel with petrol. It currently takes about six to
eight hours to recharge.
Imagine, instead of an electric car being
limited to a drive from Pietermaritzburg to Mooi River, the new technology could
allow the electric car to travel from the KZN capital to Johannesburg without
the need to recharge — and when it did recharge for this operation to take just
a few minutes to perform.
The researchers said in a statement
super-capacitor buses are already being used in China, but they have a very
limited range, whereas this technology could allow them to travel a lot further
between recharges. Instead of recharging every two to three stops, this
technology could mean they only need to recharge every 20-30 stops and that
would only take a few seconds.
Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX, has previously
stated his belief that super-capacitors are likely to be the technology for
future electric air transportation.
The group said they believe the present
scientific advance could make that vision a reality.
The technology was adapted from the principles
used to make soft contact lenses, which Dr Donald Highgate (of Augmented Optics,
and an alumnus of the University of Surrey) developed following his postgraduate
studies at Surrey 40 years ago.
Super-capacitors, an alternative power source to
batteries, store energy using electrodes and electrolytes and both charge and
deliver energy quickly, unlike conventional batteries, which do so in a much
slower, more sustained way.
However, because of their poor energy density
per kg (roughly just one 20th of existing battery technology), they have, until
now, been unable to compete with conventional battery energy storage in many
applications.
Dr Brendan Howlin of the University of Surrey
explained: “There is a global search for new energy storage technology and this
new ultra capacity super-capacitor has the potential to open the door to
unimaginably exciting developments.”
The ground-breaking research programme was
conducted by researchers at the University of Surrey’s Department of Chemistry
where the project was initiated by Dr Donald Highgate of Augmented Optics
Ltd.
The research team was co-led by principal
investigators Dr Ian Hamerton and Dr Brendan Howlin. Dr Hamerton continues to
collaborate on the project in his new post at the University of Bristol, where
the electrochemical testing to trial the research findings was carried out by
fellow University of Bristol academic David Fermin, professor of
Electrochemistry in the School of Chemistry.
Dr Hamerton, reader in polymers and composite
materials from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol,
said: “While this research has potentially opened the route to very high density
super-capacitors, these polymers have many other possible uses in which tough,
flexible conducting materials are desirable, including bioelectronics, sensors,
wearable electronics, and advanced optics.
“We believe this is a potentially game-changing
development.”
Jim Heathcote, chief executive of both Augmented
Optics Ltd and Supercapacitor Materials Ltd, said the test results from the new
polymers suggest that extremely high energy density super-capacitors could be
constructed in the very new future.
They are now seeking commercial partners in
order to supply polymers and offer assistance to build these ultra-high energy
density storage devices.
