NUS Team Develops World's First Energy-storage Membrane
06 October 2011
"With the advent of our novel membrane, energy storage technology will be more accessible, affordable, and producible on a large scale. It is also environmentally-friendly and could change the current status of energy technology."
Dr Xie Xian Ning, NUS Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative.
The energy-storage membrane developed by NUS researchers can be charged 5,000 to 6,000 times, about 10 times that of rechargeable batteries
(From left) Mr Wang Yuzhan, Dr Xie and Ms Wang Qian who devised the breakthrough invention
Soft, foldable membranes converted from organic waste could be used to power hybrid vehicles and store energy for solar panels in the near future. Developed by researchers from the NUS Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative (NUSNNI), the world's first energy-storage membrane can not only store more energy but at a lower cost too.
Led by Principal Investigator Dr Xie Xian Ning, the research team used a polystyrene-based polymer to deposit the membrane which, when sandwiched between and charged by two graphite plates, can store charge at 0.2 farads per square centimetre. This is well above the typical upper limit of 1 microfarad per square centimetre for a standard capacitor. The cost involved in energy storage is also reduced from about US$7 to store each farad using existing technologies based on liquid electrolytes to about US$0.62 per farad with this new material.
Using organic waste such as plastic bags, the conversion process from waste to membrane takes about one to two days on average. It is also said that a ton of plastic bags can produce a ton of membrane, depending on the polymer functionalisation process. Besides a faster charging speed, the new material can also be charged 5,000 to 6,000 times, about 10 times that of rechargeable batteries.
Dr Xie said: "Compared to rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors, the proprietary membrane allows for very simple device configuration and low fabrication cost. Moreover, the performance of the membrane surpasses those of rechargeable batteries, such as lithium ion and lead-acid batteries, and supercapacitors."
Supported by grants from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology (SMART) and the National Research Foundation, the research took about one and a half years to reach its current status and the team has also successfully filed a US patent for this novel invention.
The discovery has also attracted the attention of scientific journals worldwide, and was featured in Energy & Environmental Science and highlighted by renowned international journal Nature.
Going forward, the team will explore more applications for this efficient energy storage solution. It is also looking into opportunities to work with venture capitalists to commercialise the invention.