PEDOT Plastic Supercapacitors - May be the solution to Energy Storage

3D Electrodes Based on Conducting Polymers for Supercapacitor Applications

11-Feb-25

PEDOT is a conductive polymer that protects electronics from static discharges, but it can also store electricity. It could therefore conceivably be used as an energy storage device.

PEDOT is a type of plastics that can conduct electricity and is currently used to protect the internal components of electronic devices from static electricity and in organic solar cells and electrochromic devices, but it also has the ability to store electric charge somewhat like a battery. PEDOT is One of the most widely used electroconductive plastics today PEDOT stands for poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). PEDOT is a flexible, transparent film often applied to the surfaces of photographic films and electronic components to protect them from static electricity. It is also found in touch screens, organic solar cells and electrochromic devices, such as smart windows that switch from light to dark at the press of a button. However, PEDOT’s potential for energy storage has been limited because commercially available PEDOT materials lack the electrical conductivity and surface area needed to hold large amounts of energy.

UCLA chemists have developed an innovative method to control the morphology of PEDOT to grow nanofibers precisely. These nanofibers exhibit exceptional conductivity and expanded surface area, both of which are crucial for enhancing the energy storage capabilities of PEDOT.
Prof. Richard Kaner at UCLA have developed a textured fur like PEDOT film which increases the surface area for storage. In other words, the available surface area has been massively expanded by using carbon nanotubes and graphene as carrier materials. This increases the capacity to a value of 4,600 millifarads per square centimeter, which is ten times higher than with classic PEDOT. In addition, this allows for much greater durability: After 70,000 charging cycles, 70% of the original capacity was still available. In total, almost 100,000 charging cycles can be carried out.

There is another advantage compared to conventional battery cells: as no chemical processes are required for storage, very high charging and discharging capacities are possible. Designed on larger scale, these could be integrated into power grids for storing excess energy directly and releasing it again just as quickly when needed.

Given the extremely long service life (which would be almost 10 years even if discharged every hour), the high storage capacity and the very high charging capacity, a wide range of applications are conceivable. Solar cells, for example, are already being combined with capacitors to balance out fluctuations in production.

Source : UCLA