> Supercapacitors are an alternative way of storing energy. They act like reservoirs, able to quickly charge and then discharge energy in bursts. They tend to be made out of expensive materials like graphene, but Gomes’ team has turned inedible parts of durian and jackfruit into carbon aerogels – porous super-light solids – with “exceptional” natural energy storage properties. They heated, freeze-dried and then baked the inedible spongey core of each fruit in an oven at temperatures of more than 1,500C (2732F). The black, highly porous, ultralight structures they were left with could then be fashioned into electrodes of a low-cost supercapacitor.
Neat stuff. Last time I looked into aerogel, they required pretty fancy setups involving supercritical fluids, high pressures, etc. Why not start with something spongy to begin with?
Neat stuff. Last time I looked into aerogel, they required pretty fancy setups involving supercritical fluids, high pressures, etc. Why not start with something spongy to begin with?