ID :
186599
Mon, 06/06/2011 - 06:28
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/186599
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Scientists develop nitrogen-doped graphene supercapacitor
SEOUL (Yonhap) - South Korean scientists said Monday that they have developed a new type of power storage technology using nitrogen and graphene that could speed up growth in next-generation electric cars and smart power grids.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) team, led by engineering professor Choi Jung-wook, said the new nitrogen-doped graphene supercapacitor displayed twice the energy storage capability of conventional capacitors in laboratory tests.
A capacitor is a device that stores an electric charge with far greater output than ordinary rechargeable batteries. It, however, usually has relatively low energy storage capacity.
The newly built supercapacitor, which used graphene as its base material, has improved power storage capacity coupled with more output. It said nitrogen doping played a key role in the improvements. Doping is the introduction of impurities into a semiconductor to effect dramatic change in electrical properties.
Graphenes can conduct electrons much faster than silicon, are highly elastic and have twice the strength of diamonds. The materials, which are atom-thin carbon compounds, also possess electrical conductivity properties 100 times greater than copper.
Choi, who is a member of KAIST's Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability, said the use of nitrogen in the graphene helped energy storage capacity considerably.
This, he said, could allow such capacitors to be used in cars and conventional power grids.
He said that tests conducted with the supercapacitor showed no change in its capabilities even after the device was charged and discharged 230,000 times.
"Because graphene is flexible, the capacitor developed could be used to store power in clothing," the scientists said.
In addition, experiments showed that nitrogen doping took place not only at the edges of the graphene but in the center, which had never been observed in the past.
Work on the latest development began in July 2010 and was published in the latest online edition of the research journal Nano Letters.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) team, led by engineering professor Choi Jung-wook, said the new nitrogen-doped graphene supercapacitor displayed twice the energy storage capability of conventional capacitors in laboratory tests.
A capacitor is a device that stores an electric charge with far greater output than ordinary rechargeable batteries. It, however, usually has relatively low energy storage capacity.
The newly built supercapacitor, which used graphene as its base material, has improved power storage capacity coupled with more output. It said nitrogen doping played a key role in the improvements. Doping is the introduction of impurities into a semiconductor to effect dramatic change in electrical properties.
Graphenes can conduct electrons much faster than silicon, are highly elastic and have twice the strength of diamonds. The materials, which are atom-thin carbon compounds, also possess electrical conductivity properties 100 times greater than copper.
Choi, who is a member of KAIST's Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability, said the use of nitrogen in the graphene helped energy storage capacity considerably.
This, he said, could allow such capacitors to be used in cars and conventional power grids.
He said that tests conducted with the supercapacitor showed no change in its capabilities even after the device was charged and discharged 230,000 times.
"Because graphene is flexible, the capacitor developed could be used to store power in clothing," the scientists said.
In addition, experiments showed that nitrogen doping took place not only at the edges of the graphene but in the center, which had never been observed in the past.
Work on the latest development began in July 2010 and was published in the latest online edition of the research journal Nano Letters.
