A group of researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia are working on a way for electric cars to use their body panels to store energy.
The solution comes in the form of new, lightweight supercapacitors intended to be installed in the body panels, doors, roofs, bonnets and floors of electric vehicles, according to Gizmag. These supercapacitors come in the form of thin, strong film with a lot of energy that are made of two all-carbon electrodes sandwiched around an electrolyte.
The research team aims at combining the supercapacitors with lithium-ion batteries, which, despite having a large amount of energy, discharge energy at a limited rate. This combination will allow the supercapacitors to store enough energy to fill up the battery in minutes.
"Vehicles need an extra energy spurt for acceleration, and this is where supercapacitors come in," said QUT researcher Marco Notarianni. "They hold a limited amount of charge, but they are able to deliver it very quickly, making them the perfect complement to mass-storage batteries."
While the graphene-based supercapacitors in the team's project come with a range of eight to 14 watt-hours per kilogram, and the average lithium-ion battery is capable of storing 200 watt-hours per kilogram, they also come with higher power density than regular supercapacitors, Tech Times reported. Their material is flexible enough for them to be molded into the car's body.
Notarianni said since supercapacitors have a higher power output in a short period of time, cars will have a faster acceleration rate, and will be able to charge in only a few minutes. He added that the average electric car battery needs several hours to charge.
Postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Jinzhang Liu said the team aims to develop supercapacitors in the future that will be able to store more energy than the lithium-ion battery, which would make cars reliant only on supercapacitors for power, Gizmag reported.
"After one full charge this car should be able to run up to 500 km (310 mil) - similar to a petrol-powered car and more than double the current limit of an electric car," Liu said.
The technology has the potential to be used for other devices powered by batteries, such as smartphones and tablets, Tech Times reported.
The team believes graphene being cheap and environment-friendly will allow them to make a positive change in the way people use energy.
The research was published in the Journal of Power Sources and the Nanotechnology journal.
