Similar to the charged power suit worn by Black Panther in the Marvel Comics, University of Central Florida (UCF) scientists have enhanced NASA technologies to engineer a power suit for an electric car that is lighter than aluminum, as robust as steel, and helps increase the power capacity of the vehicle.
UCF researchers Kowsik Sambath Kumar, Jayan Thomas, and Deepak Pandey show the lightweight, supercapacitor-battery hybrid composite material they’ve developed. Kumar and Pandey are UCF doctoral students, and Thomas is a professor in UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center and Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Image Credit: University of Central Florida.
The suit is composed of layered carbon composite material that functions as an energy-storing supercapacitor-battery hybrid device because of its exceptional design at the nanoscale level.
The innovation was showcased recently as the cover story in the journal Small and could have applications in a variety of technologies that entail lightweight sources of power, from electric vehicles to airplanes, spacecraft, portable devices, drones and wearable technology.
Our idea is to use the body shells to store energy to supplement the power stored in batteries. The advantage is that this composite can reduce the weight of your car and increase the miles per charge. It is as strong as or even stronger than steel but much lighter.
Jayan Thomas, Study Co-Author, Team Leader, and Professor, NanoScience Technology Center and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UCF
The material, when used as a car body shell, could boost the range of an electric car by 25%, meaning a 200-miles-per-charge vehicle could run an additional 50 miles and decrease its total weight.
As a supercapacitor, it also would improve the power of an electric car, offering it the additional push it requires to drive from zero to 60 mph in 3 seconds.
This application, as well as many others, could be on the horizon one day as the technology advances in its readiness level.
Luke Roberson, Study Co-Author and Senior Principal Investigator for Research and Development, Kennedy Space Center, NASA
These materials could be used as structures on off-world habitats, frames for cube satellites, or even as part of futuristic eyewear, for example, mixed and virtual reality headsets.
There are lots of potential infusion points within the economy as well as for future space exploration. This is, in my mind, a huge advancement of the technology readiness level to get us to where we need to be for NASA mission infusion.
Luke Roberson, Study Co-Author and Senior Principal Investigator for Research and Development, Kennedy Space Center, NASA
When used on cars, the supercapacitor composite material would obtain its power via charging, similar to a battery, as well as when the car brakes, Thomas explains.
“Its charge-discharge cycle life is 10 times longer than an electric car battery,” he says.
The materials used are also nonflammable and nontoxic, which is very crucial for passenger safety in case of an accident, he explains.
“This is a huge improvement over past approaches that have suffered from issues with toxic material, flammable organic electrolytes, low life cycles, or poor performance,” Thomas says.
Owing to its exclusive design that uses numerous layers of carbon fiber, the material has substantial impact and bending strength, vital for enduring an auto collision, as well as substantial tensile strength.
To create the material, the team developed positively and negatively charged carbon fiber layers, which when stacked and attached in an alternating configuration, form a robust, energy-storing composite.
Nanoscale graphene sheets stuck to the carbon fiber layers allow for better charge storing ability, while metal oxides placed on attached electrodes improve voltage and deliver higher energy density. This offers the supercapacitor-battery hybrid with its unparalleled energy storage capacity and charging life cycle, Thomas says.
Deepak Pandey, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student in Thomas’ lab, was involved in forming, shaping and enhancing the composite, as well as formulating the technique to incorporate metal oxides into the carbon graphene strips.
Study co-author Kowsik Sambath Kumar, a doctoral student in Thomas’ lab, formulated a method to vertically align nanoscale graphene on carbon fiber electrodes.
Kumar states that one of the most crucial developments is the supercapacitor composite’s lightweight feature.
Now in electric cars, the battery is 30% to 40% of the weight. With this energy storing composite we can get additional mileage without increasing the battery weight, further it reduces the vehicle weight, while maintaining high tensile, bending and impact strength. Whenever you decrease that weight, you can increase the range, so this has huge applications in electric cars and aviation.
Kowsik Sambath Kumar, Study Co-Author and Doctoral Student, NanoScience Technology Center and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UCF
Pandey agrees and emphasizes its practicality for the space sector.
Making a cubic satellite out of this composite will make the satellite light in weight and will help to eliminate the heavy battery pack. This could save thousands of dollars per launch. Further, free volume gained by removal of big batteries could help pack in more sensors and testing equipment, increasing the functionality of satellite.
Deepak Pandey, Study Lead Author and Doctoral Student, NanoScience Technology Center and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UCF
Supercapacitor-battery hybrid behavior is suitable for cubesats as it can charge within minutes when a satellite circles across the solar-lit side of the Earth.
Roberson states the technology is presently at a technology readiness level of five, which means it has been checked in an applicable environment before transferring to being tested in real-time, such as on a space flight, which would be level six testing.
To clear the last level of testing, level nine, and reach the market, it will need more development and testing concentrated on commercial applications, he says.
The co-authors of the study also included Leaford Nathan Henderson, a doctoral student in materials science and engineering at UCF; Gustavo Suarez, an undergraduate student in aerospace engineering at UCF; Patrick Vega, a research assistant in the NanoScience Technology Center during the time of the study; and Hilda Reyes Salvador ’20, a graduate of UCF’s biomedical sciences undergraduate program.
The research received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Energized Composite for Electric Vehicles
Video Credit: University of Central Florida
Journal Reference:
Pandey, D., et al. (2022) Energized Composites for Electric Vehicles: A Dual Function Energy-Storing Supercapacitor-Based Carbon Fiber Composite for the Body Panels. Small. doi.org/10.1002/smll.202107053.