New type of capacitor, which can transfer 1 kg of mass into up to 1 MW of energy

Gary Rubloff from the University of Maryland, together with colleagues from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, presented a prototype of a new type of capacitor, which can transfer 1 kg of mass into up to 1 MW of energy. This capacitor can store energy with such density as supercapacitor. At the same time, it can release it as quickly as electrostatic capacitor.

The success secret of this new technology is that it consists of 10 billion of miniature capacitors with a diameter of only 50 micrometers. Their electrodes are made in such manner, that each operates as a separate unit. Production of these small capacitors starts with creating a field of nano-pores evenly spaced on the surface of aluminum layer. Every pore is filled with a trio of concentric layers of material, functioning as a classical capacitor, composed of a conductor, isolator and conductor. The conductor wires are composed of titanium nitride; insulator is composed of aluminum oxide.

Further research even foresees a possibility to increase the density of stored energy. In addition to the hybrid battery-capacitor technology, intended for electric cars, new capacitor could be also used to power electronics such as mobile phones or laptops.