• High-performance energy storage possible

U.S. physicists say they've found a way to improve high-energy density capacitors so they can store seven times as much energy as do common capacitors.
The North Carolina State University researchers said such high performance capacitors could enable electrical applications like hybrid and electric cars with much quicker acceleration, better and faster steering of spacecraft, better regeneration of electricity when using brakes in electric-powered cars, and improved lasers.
The amount of energy a capacitor can store depends on the insulating material used between the metal surfaces. The scientists, led by Vivek Ranjan, concluded a more ordered arrangement of the material inside the capacitor could further increase the energy storage of new high-performance capacitors, which already store energy four times more densely than capacitors used in industry.
They said predictions of higher energy density capacitors are encouraging, but have yet to be experimentally tested.
The research is to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.