Diamonds are a 3-D micro-supercapacitor’s best friend

Silicon nanowires covered with a diamond film deposited by microwave CVD and an electroactive (PEDOT) polymer layer were used to create innovative electrodes under the EU-backed NEST research project. Two teams of researchers from INAC participating in this project achieved substantial improvements in 3D micro-supercapacitor performance. The results were confirmed on a demonstrator system.

The electrodes’ energy density, at 26 mJ/cm², was increased threefold compared to silicon nanowires functionalized with the polymer alone. Furthermore, the micro-supercapacitor developed offered excellent stability, with losses of just 20% after 15,000 charge-discharge cycles.

These advances put the new technology comfortably ahead of the pack in terms of energy density, the main challenge when it comes to supercapacitors. The primary application for the technology will be embedded electronics for biomedicine.

Contact: david.aradilla@cea.fr

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