A super supercapacitor
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he Forse group’s goal is to find, understand, and optimise materials that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One technology they are exploring is supercapacitors that can absorb can absorb carbon dioxide gas; a two-pence-sized device that the Forse lab is banking on to help tackle climate change.
Dr Israel Temprano Farina and Grace Mapstone with the supercapacitor.
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he Forse laboratory is fine-tuning a supercapacitor that can selectively capture the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide while it’s charging. Then, when it discharges, the CO2 is released and can be collected.
batteries charge, but for something like carbon capture we would prioritise durability,” comments Grace Mapstone, a PhD student in the Forse group who is building and optimising these supercapacitors.
“Around 35 billion tonnes of CO2 are released into the atmosphere each year and we urgently need solutions to eliminate these emissions,” says Dr Alexander Forse, who leads the group.
Low-cost materials “The best part is that the materials used to make The best part is that the materials used to make supercapacitors are quite cheap and abundant. are quite cheap and abundant. We want to use materials that are inert, that don’t harm environments, and that we need to dispose of less frequently. For example, the CO2 dissolves into a water-based electrolyte which is basically seawater and it’s not going to harm the environment.
A supercapacitor is very similar to a rechargeable battery but instead of using chemical reactions in order to store charge, it simply separates charges at the two electrodes. The advantage is that there is less degradation over time because there are no chemical reactions so it can tolerate many more charge-discharge cycles.
“The electrodes are made of carbon. We have plenty of carbon, in fact, the carbons we use are made out of waste coconut shells.”
“The trade-off is that supercapacitors can’t store as much as
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