Ultracapacitors
NASA needs space systems that can operate without an environmental protection housing in the extreme environments of NASA missions. Key performance parameters of interest are survivability and operation in very low temperature environments (~-180°C), such as the surface of Titan (and of other ocean worlds) and in the permanently shadowed craters on the Moon. Current state-of-practice for such missions is to place hardware developed with conventional technologies into bulky and power-inefficient environmentally protected housings. Environmental-protection housings significantly increase the mass of a space system, consume precious energy, and limit the life of the mission and the corresponding scientific return.
Ultracapacitors (which store charge at electrodes at the double layer) have power densities that far exceed those of batteries, a cyclic life that is orders of magnitude better than batteries, and can store and deliver power on a chip or circuit board. They can currently work down to -40°C, but have the potential to work at far lower temperatures. There are no current commercial technologies that that can readily survive and operate in these extremely low temperatures environments without environmental protection systems. NASA has a need for technologies for space systems that can operate in the extreme environments of deep space missions and states a preference for those proposals that would benefit in-situ studies of icy ocean worlds, acquire and communicate scientific observations during descent, and sample and concentrate meltwater and interior oceans. We chose to look at capacitors used for high power delivery in hybrid power systems for low temperature missions.
Hybrid supercapacitors (ultracapacitors) that can operate in extremely cold temperatures (-180°C).
The supercapacitor electrodes use non-conventional electrolytes, our patented carbons, and 3D structuring to provide high a real capacitance and power in a small package that both suppresses electrolyte freezing along with high power delivery.
On-chip supercapacitors provide the unique capability to store electrical energy and deliver it very quickly and efficiently, enhancing peak-load performance, and offer excellent cycling capability (1-2 orders of magnitude better than batteries).
The devices developed here would find use in hybrid energy storage devices in NASA space systems that operate in the extreme environments of space missions, and without requiring special environmental housings.
