Electrosprayed Metal-nanoparticle-Metal (eMIM) capacitor for energy storage

;The objective of this activity is to study the benefits that nanoparticles can bring to energy storage devices with the potential of industrial production. The main innovation is twofold: (a) demonstrate how an electrospray technology to deposit ordered nanoparticle layers from a colloidal solution can be used to create capacitors and (b) how these novel nanoparticle capacitors can show enhanced specific capacitance.

There is a clear need for developing more performant energy storage components for space in terms of specific energy (Wh/kg) or the specific power (kW/kg). ; ;Although supercapacitors do not store as much energy as lithium-ion batteries do (in the range of 10 to 100 Wh/kg compared to 1-10 Wh/kg in supercapacitors), they are instead able to deliver higher peaks of energy for short periods of time (10kW/kg per short durations compared to 200W/kg for batteries). This can definitely help the energy management in satellites, covering eclipse periods or electrical load changes.