Today’s smartphones come with sophisticated charging technology that can juice up devices roughly in about half an hour. But a new technology can do the job in a minute. Or even better – fully power an electric car in 10 minutes. While not possible yet, a research by a team of CU Boulder scientists can potentially lead to such advances.
As per a research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers discovered how tiny charged particles, called ions, move within a complex network of minuscule pores, leading to the development of more efficient energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors.
“Given the critical role of energy in the future of the planet, I felt inspired to apply my chemical engineering knowledge to advancing energy storage devices.It felt like the topic was somewhat underexplored and as such, the perfect opportunity,” said Ankur Gupta, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering.

What is the technology and how it works

Gupta explains that chemical engineers use various techniques to study flow in porous materials like oil reservoirs and water filters. His team’s research applies these techniques to improve energy storage systems.
The team emphasised that the findings of the research are important for energy storage in vehicles, electronics and power grids. Supercapacitors are energy storage devices that use ion buildup in pores. They charge quickly and last longer than batteries.
“Supercapacitors’ main advantage is speed. The question is, how can we make them charge and release energy even faster? The answer lies in more efficient ion movement,” said Gupta.
This research modifies Kirchhoff’s law, which has described current flow in circuits since 1845. Kirchhoff’s law doesn’t account for ions, which move differently than electrons due to both electric fields and diffusion. The researchers found that ion movement at pore intersections deviates from Kirchhoff’s law.
“This is the key breakthrough. We identified the missing piece,” noted Gupta. Previously, research only described ion movement in single, straight pores.