Researchers at QUT have developed a device using nanomaterials that could be incorporated into the panels of cars to power the vehicles.
The ‘supercapacitors’ are able to charge and discharge power at a far faster rate than an average battery.
The material is thin and strong and could be embedded into a car’s roof, doors, bonnet and floor and store enough energy to turbocharge a car’s battery within a matter of minutes.
The discovery was made by researchers at QUT and Rice University in Houston.
QUT Professor Nunzio Motta told PWPro that the supercapacitor may be more efficient than a battery because of its ability to deliver charge quickly.
“Let’s say that if and when we are able to scale up the technology, it will bne possible to create body parts of the car made of these supercapacitors.”
Motta points out that car manufacturer Volvo is already carrying out its own tests in Europe using supercapacitors to power cars.
Unlike Volvo, the QUT team is using a single layer of carbons obtained by exfoliating graphene.
“By using a simple electrochemical technique we exfoliate this graphene and we get little layers of the graphite that can then be restacked in a different way.
“We can store more charge because of this way of restacking the graphite.”
The researchers’ findings were published in the Journal of Power Sources and Nanotechnology Journal.
Motta said: “We are looking for some funding in order to improve the technology and scale up quickly.”