Communications of the ACM
Scientists Create Tiny Bendy Power Supply for Even Smaller Portable Electronics
A newly developed micro-supercapacitor could serve as a power supply for smaller, lighter, thinner mobile phones, cameras, and wearable electronics.
Credit: Energy Harvesting Journal
Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden (IFW-Dresden) say they have created a micro-supercapacitor that could lead to mobile phones and cameras that are smaller, lighter, and thinner than existing devices.
The power supply also is made from a flexible material and could be applied to wearable electronics.
The researchers examined the use of manganese dioxide as an alternative electrode material because it is more environmentally friendly and less expensive than traditional materials. However, manganese dioxide is not a natural choice for an electrode material because it is not very electrically conductive, nor is it naturally flexible or strong. The researchers overcame these shortcomings by vaporizing the manganese dioxide using an electron beam and allowing the gaseous atoms to precipitate into thin, bendable films.
"The device could be applied to many miniaturized technologies, including implantable medical devices and active radio frequency identification tags for self-powered miniaturized devices," says IFW-Dresden's Chenglin Yan.
From Science Daily
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