Researchers at the department of instrumentation and applied physics (IAP), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have designed a novel ultra-micro supercapacitor – a tiny device capable of storing an enormous amount of electric charge.
According to the institute, the new device is much smaller and more compact than existing supercapacitors and can potentially be used in many appliances ranging from streetlights to consumer electronics, electric cars and medical apparatus. “Most of these devices are currently powered by batteries. However, over time, these batteries lose their ability to store charge and therefore have a limited shelf life. Capacitors, on the other hand, can store electric charge for much longer, by virtue of their design.
In the current study, published in ACS Energy Letters, researchers fabricated their supercapacitor using field-effect transistors (FETs) as the charge collectors, instead of the metallic electrodes used in existing capacitors.