Power Supply for Meso-Sensors

Wireless sensors and active r.f. ID tags have a critical need for small power supplies. TPL proposes to develop a meso-scale power system that exploits volumetric microbatteries and micro-supercapacitors to maximize energy and power densities. Thesethree-dimensional microdevices are a unique feature of our approach, and deliver superior performance compared with conventional thin film batteries. The proposed effort will evaluate a limited lifetime device that uses a high energy density zinc-airprimary microbattery combined with micro-supercapacitors; and a rechargeable system consisting of micro-supercapacitors and a solar cell. In both cases, the primary energy storage and power delivery device is the micro-supercapacitor. These rechargeabledevices with high energy density, high specific power, low equivalent series resistance, ESR, and low cost are uniquely capable of meeting the power needs of meso-scale sensors. Our volumetric micro-devices have capacitance densities an order of magnitudehigher than macro-scale COTS devices. By exploiting the properties of carbon nanotubes a further 50% increase in capacitance, a decrease in the ESR by a factor of 1000, and a four-fold increase in power density will realize the necessary power deliverycapabilities. This approach will deliver a unique minimum footprint, minimum volume solution for integration with meso-scale sensors.