Development of Strategic Organic Energy Storage Capacitor Devices

High energy density and high power capacitors operating at a high frequency are in great demand for a variety of residential, military, medical, and industrial applications. In fact, a large percentage of the cost of alternative energy components is consumed by the cost of capacitors. Although there have been some developments in the fabrication of inorganic super-capacitors, the problems encountered at high voltage operation prohibit their realistic implementation. Recently, investigations carried out by the founder of Wolverine Energy Solutions and Technology (WEST) at the University of Michigan demonstrated that organic materials with high dielectric constants and low loss are attainable in hyper-branched dendritic systems. A high dielectric constant (>46) and low dielectric loss (~0.001) were observed in a hyper-branched copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) dendrimer with very small dielectric dispersion. Thus, in this Phase I application WEST and the University of Michigan will make large yields of particular pthalocyanine dendrimer systems, test the temperature and long term stability of the capacitance effect at high frequency, model the mechanism of polaron delocalization, and test prototype devices for real energy storage capacitor applications. The ultimate goal is to push the use of organic dielectric materials in to mainstream manufacturing of energy storage devices. BENEFIT: The requirements for high density energy storage and fast energy release are critical now for a variety of important applications. High performance capacitors with low dielectric loss at high operational frequencies would enable greater acceleration in hybrid and electric cars (on highways for example); quicker switching response in electronic devices such as printed circuit boards, smaller size in portable devices such as laptops and defibrillators. With further advancements in synthetic procedures as well as detailed understanding of electronic and optical properties of organic materials, it has been shown that novel organic macromolecules are very promising for a broad variety of optical and electronic applications. In a typical electronic system, discrete passive components outnumber the active integrated circuits (IC’s) and occupy more than 70% of the surface. Thus, organic substrates with embedded capacitors are predicted to play a increasing role in high density IC-packaging technologies. A big advantage of organic macromolecular materials made in this STTR application is that they are relatively cheap, easily processible and flexible. The co-PI (Goodson) at the University of Michigan has developed a novel strategy of using the strong polaron delocalization in hyperbranched structures to create a high dielectric constant organic material which has the lowest reported dielectric loss. This new technology will drive the miniaturization and cost reduction in power electronics and pulse power applications. Specifically, products like hybrid electric vehicles and implantable medical devices will utilize capacitors based on new organic materials with high dielectric constants and exceptionally low loss at high frequencies. Pulsed power systems which convert the stored electric energy into short powerful pulses are also needed for directed energy and kinetic energy weapons, high power microwaves, electromagnetic armor, and other military applications. Such power supplies require high energy density capacitors with fast discharge speeds (milliseconds or even nanoseconds), which are not available to be fabricated with commercially available dielectrics. Novel organic capacitors can also play a large role in the control and size of defibrillators used in medicine. Efficient fast discharge capability associated with low loss at high frequency is a key parameter for these pulse applications. Low loss at high frequency is of vital importance to substantially enhance the fraction of stored energy being released on an external load in pulsed applications. In many cases the increased efficiency of the energy release may slightly soften the requirements for a highest achievable value of dielectric constant, thus paving the way to the development of new optimized dielectrics with the maximum dischargeable energy for fast pulsed applications. These examples give strong justification for the need for improvements in current and new dielectric/capacitor materials. The diversity of civil and military applications of our product ensures the broad and diverse market for our company.