Energy harvesting technological examples
Youth Engineering Co., Ltd.
Development of high performance porous graphene manufacturing process
Since 2014, we have been focusing on research and development of power storage devices mainly of lithium-ion batteries and their manufacturing equipments. Since 2018, we have been promoting joint research with the National University of Singapore (NUS) for graphene applications. Graphene is known as a nanomaterial with high electron mobility, thermal conductivity and strength. This time, we succeeded in forming a porous body (graphene foam) suitable for the electrode material of electric double layer capacitors (supercapacitors) by subjecting commercially available activated carbon to SPS treatment (Spark Plasma Sintering). By using graphene foam, it is possible to reduce the amount of binder, which causes electrical resistance and also causes performance deterioration due to chemical reaction with the electrolyte, to zero. It has been confirmed that the prototyped supercapacitor has a durability of 10 times or more and a power density of 2 times or more compared to the conventional product. Currently, we are researching and developing mass production equipment (see the figure above).
