Atomic Layer-coated Graphene Electrode-based Micro-flexible and Structural Supercapacitors (ARMS)

Research Project, 2023 – 2027

The overall objective of the ARMS project (Atomic layer-coated gRaphene electrode-Based Micro-flexible and Structural supercapacitors (ARMS) is to integrate comprehensive materials and processes, including graphene-rich bio-based carbon materials and graphene-decorated carbon fibers, and to develop scalable and cost-effective atomic layer deposition (ALD) manufacturing technology to fabricate totally eco-friendly supercapacitors with energy density reaching > 50 Wh/kg that is comparable to batteries without sacrificing the power density, cycle life or eco-friendliness, and open up opportunities to establish a new value chain for supercapacitor manufacturing with European SMEs as key players. The consortium will achieve this goal by a combination of factors, working in a coordinated fashion: process modification to enable production of high-graphene-content porous carbon for printed flexible energy storage, conformal graphene coating onto carbon fibres for structural supercapacitors, decoration of both types of electrodes with ultra-thin conformal ALD coating of MnO2 and Fe2O3 for increased stability and voltage window (to be scaled up to roll-to-roll by Beneq), and development of novel, environmentally-friendly electrolytes. The energy storage devices enabled by this work will be integrated into two use-case demonstrators to show the viability of the concept: a wireless sensor device powered a printed flexible supercapacitor, and a drone powered by structural supercapacitors which are simultaneously structural parts of the drone.