Inspired by the structure of a fern leaf, a team of scientists from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a ground-breaking prototype of energy capture and storage technology.
The new type of graphene-based prototype could increase the capacity of existing energy storage capacities by 3000%. Once developed on a larger scale and commercialised, it could enable production of self-powering cars, buildings, smartphones and many more.
The prototype electrode has been designed to work with supercapacitors, which would allow the battery to charge and discharge much faster than conventional batteries. Prof. Min Gu from the RMIT said, that the secret of the new technology is using the most efficient way of filling the space through the introduction of self-repeating patterns, very similar to those found on the leaves of the western swordfern, whose veins are placed in a specific pattern, making them "extremely efficient in storing energy and transporting the water around the plant".
According to Prof. Gu: "the capacity-boosted supercapacitors would offer long-term reliability and quick-burst energy release - for when someone wants to use solar energy on a cloudy day for example - making them ideal alternatives for solar power storage."
The lead author and PhD researcher Litty Thekkekara said, that placing the electrode on a flexible film allows for an almost endless potential of application: "The most exciting possibility is using this electrode with a solar cell, to provide a total non-chip energy harvesting and storage solution".
So far, the biggest challenge of renewable energy was the storage of energy through the use of conventional batteries, which are bulky, rigid, take a long time to charge and their capacity is not suitable enough to be fully relied upon. According to Thekkekara, the invention: "solved the storage part of the challenge, as well as shown how they can work with solar cells without affecting performance. Now the focus needs to be on flexible solar energy, so we can work towards achieving our vision of fully solar-reliant, self-powering electronics."
