SC4IoT - M-ERA.NET - PES-HORISONT-EU Project Establishment Support

The proposed project SC4IoT responds to Topic 6 in the M-ERA.NET-2023 call, which focuses on developing next-generation innovative materials and technologies for the electronics sector, and is mainly affiliated with one specific aspect in Topic 6: Next generation of materials for integrated electronics for energy storage and harvesting. SC4IoT aims to develop high speed supercapacitors (hsSCs) with improved energy storage capacity and high-frequency handling capability via electrode material innovation, to address the insufficient performance of state-of-art supercapacitors as the power electronics in Internet of Things (IoT), in terms of inadequate capacitance to meet the demand for device miniaturization, and lack of the capability in handling high-frequency operations. To go beyond the state-of-art, this project proposes 2 main innovation objectives: (1) Develop a new electrode design strategy “Controllable growth and assembly of nanoscale electrode materials on three-dimensional (3D) nanostructure current collectors” to attain a high areal capacitance at high frequency operating conditions (above 3 mF cm-2 at 120 Hz with a phase angle of around -80°). (2) Develop general electrode fabrication platforms with the capability to deliver a series of hsSC electrodes to adapt to a wide range of operating frequency (1-120 Hz), which could meet the varying requirements in IoT, and simplify the complex electrode designs. The expected high performance will be promised by three optimization directions of supercapacitor electrodes: (1) Lowering the equivalent series resistance, (2) Favoring the electrolyte ion diffusion, and (3) Improving the areal mass loading of electrode active materials without significantly compromising the high power capability, which can be achieved by controlling over the material size, micro-/nano-structure of the electrode assembly, and material deposition process.