NEMSCAP

With growing demand for smaller and more efficient circuitry, miniaturization of electronic components has been in high demand for study. However, in current day technology, most components are unable to compete with their macro-scale counterparts besides information storage. In particular, with sensor-devices becoming more integrated and applicable on smaller scales, a notable shortcoming becomes apparent in the lack of energy being available for all these devices. Hence, to support this ongoing trend in smaller and smarter devices, new energy storage devices need to be imagined.

Micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) could be a solution to overcome the compact energy storage devices problems. Their ability to offer high power densities and to be charged and discharged for over 1,000,000 cycles makes them ideal for short operation times, occurring in most sensors or data transmission. Besides this, MSCs are possible to fabricate on millimeter-scales (with micrometer features), allowing for integration even for those applications that are on a size budget. Combination with energy harvesting on similar scales, with for example flexible solar chargers, would make this system even autonomous, instigating a complete new field for integrated electronics.