Micro-supercapacitors are miniaturized electrochemical energy storage devices, recently developed, which can be directly integrated into other miniaturized electronic devices such as sensors-actuators or energy-harvesting microsystems providing excellent nano-/micro-scale peak power. As part of European project NEST (Nanowires for Energy Storage), we have developed the electrode and electrolyte designs to produce a micro-supercapacitor via a process compatible with integration in C-MOS microelectronics that can withstand solder reflow (280°C for 40 s). The design combines the high surface area of silicon nanowires and the high thermal stability of ionic liquids used as the electrolyte.
Our recent efforts have been devoted to increase the energy and power densities of micro-supercapacitors via the fabrication of nanostructured electroactive materials. Si Nanowires coated with MnO2 or conducting polymers (polyaniline, polypyrrole) allowed us to reach that goal.
EUROPEAN PATENT: ” Electrode material comprising silicon nanowires covered by a mesoporous oxide nanostructured coating and ionic liquid electrolytes for energy storage applications.”
Pedro Gómez-Romero, Deepak P. Dubal, David Aradilla, Gerard Bidan, CSIC-CEA 9-03-2015.
Ultrathin MnO2 nanoflakes grown on silicon nanowires for high performance micro-supercapacitors with Li-doped ionic liquid.
Deepak P. Dubal, David Aradilla, Gérard Bidan, Pascal Gentile, Thomas J.S. Schubert, Jan Wimberg, Saïd Sadki, Pedro Gomez-Romero* Accepted Scientific Reports (Nature pub. Group) 2015