Tamarind peel helps generate power.
With their high energy density, supercapacitors play a crucial role in solar-thermics as they can store large quantities of solar energy quickly.
Except when it’s cold. Then the ions in the electrolyte move between electrodes at significantly reduced speed.
A research team has developed electrodes from a new composite that reacts to sunlight. To achieve this, the pores of a graphene film were filled with a conductive polymer.
At -30°C, the supercapacitor’s efficiency when placed under solar irradiation was raised to levels normally found at room temperature.
At room temperature, meanwhile, storage capacity was 4.8 times greater. Even after 10,000 charging and discharging cycles, the supercapacitor’s storage capacity was 85.8%.
Sunny prospects.
