Carbon nanomaterials are the enemy.
For the past decade, scientists have been trying to find materials that make high-performance supercapacitors. Currently the most popular materials are non-carbon nanotubes and graphene, but scientists are still not satisfied with their conductivity.
In this study, by the Massachusetts institute of technology mechanical engineering professor Ian w. hunter, saeed m. wheat, force and three researchers at the university of British Columbia in Canada team behind the study, after many experiments, finally selected the niobium nanowires. McVakley and his colleagues have demonstrated that high energy density is not unique to carbon nanomaterials, and niobium nanomaterials may be a better choice.
The new study USES a yarn made from niobium nanowires to make supercapacitors. The diameter of a single niobium nanowire is only 140 nanometers, or one thousandth of the diameter of a human hair.
Compared with carbon nanomaterials, new materials have many unique advantages. First of all, this material is highly flexible, can be woven into fabric, and can be made into various shapes to better meet the needs of making wearable devices. Secondly, compared with carbon nanomaterials, niobium nanowires have better strength and the conductivity is more than 100 times higher than these materials. In addition, niobium has a melting point of up to 2,500 degrees centigrade, which makes the supercapacitor made of it fully capable of being used in a variety of harsh high-temperature environments with excellent service life. By contrast, in the same volume, niobium supercapacitors can store up to five times more power than carbon nanotubes. One of the more attractive points is that, because of the abundance in nature, the cost of niobium nanowire supercapacitors is also cheaper.
