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Project

Structural supercapacitors; composite materials for high-density energy storage.

The main goal of this PhD research is to develop and optimize composite materials to be used as structural supercapacitors. Furthermore, those structural composites possess the additional functionality of very high capacitance. The resulting materials will thus be multifunctional components to be applied in diverse engineering structures.

The use of a capacitor for energy storage offers numerous advantages. The (dis)charging of a capacitor is extremely fast and the lifetime is quasi unlimited as no electrolyte that degrades over time is involved. Moreover, a capacitor is light and contains no rare earth elements. The reason why a capacitor is until now seldomly used as an alternative for a electrochemical battery is due to two difficulties. Firstly, the capacitor voltage decreases significantly as energy is taken from it. This poses a problem for applications using the stored electrical energy at a constant supply voltage. Secondly, the energy density of a capacitor is still lower than that of a traditional electrochemical battery. This research project is addressing both difficulties. It aims at finding a cheap, light, reliable and flexible capacitive energy storage with composite materials. 

Multifunctional composite materials for energy storage(M(ultifunctional)E(nergy)S(torage)composites) offer a unique integration method, which allows to embed the functional capacitor materials into structural carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs). In this concept, the composite material is not only the structural component, but it also realizes the storage capacitor. As such, it uses the same material to store energy. 

A lot of research is needed to find the ideal materials of such a multifunctional composite material for energy storage. Potential materials to be addressed are carbon fibers as electrode material and a thin dielectricum with ceramic nanoparticles embedded in a high k polymer. 

This PhD proposes a multidisciplinary approach to develop structural supercapacitors which will find their applications in a wide variety of sectors (automotive, aerospace, …) for which the need for a separate electrochemical battery will be eliminated. These structural supercapacitors are thus essential to the reduction of fossil-based fuels by saving on structural weight and by the application of innovative electrical hybrid concepts into structural materials.

Date:10 Sep 2018 →  31 Mar 2023
Keywords:structural supercapacitor, solid state electrolytes, Finite Element Modeling
Disciplines:Metallurgical engineering
Project type:PhD project