Researchers at Vanderbilt University have come up with a new method for storing power within silicon-based supercapacitors, which are capable of charging mobile phones in a matter of seconds and can operate continuously for weeks without needing to be recharged.
The research paper was published in the journal "Scientific Reports," which is under the Nature publishing group. The researchers proposed a new method for storing energy in supercapacitors, where electrical energy is not stored through chemical reactions but rather by accumulating ions on the surface of porous materials. This new method allows for charging and discharging within minutes, can operate for millions of cycles, as opposed to the thousands of charge-discharge cycles in regular batteries.