Nano-Structured Solid State Power Capacitors

In recent years, many military and commercial applications have turned to power electronics to run a variety of systems, such as electric launching platforms, electric warships, and electric/hybrid vehicles, efficiently, quietly, cheaply, and precisely.Power capacitors (also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors) have gained substantial attention for these applications since they offer outstanding advantages over conventional capacitors and batteries such as storing energy longer, dischargingfaster, longer shelf life, and excellent reversibility. It is predicted that global sales will reach $2 billion soon. With the predicted shift to wide band gap semiconductors, the allowable operating temperature of power electronics systems is expected toincrease to over 200oC. Current commercially available power capacitors can't meet these requirements fully and will become the limiting factor in thermal design due to their low achievable voltage and low operating temperature. MicroCoating Technologies(MCT) proposes to develop new solid-state power capacitors based on ceramic electrolytes and nano-composite electrodes. These power capacitors have the advantages of high operating voltage, high thermal tolerance, high reliability, low weight, and smallsize. Therefore, the proposed power capacitors will enable a significant overall improvement in future power electronics systems enabling new military and commercial capabilities. There is a tremendous commercial and military interest for power capacitorsfor various applications. Electronics automobile industry has been studying power capacitors for the use in telecommunications devices, stand-by power systems, uninterruptible power supplies, and electric/hybrid vehicles. In recent years, the applicationsin electric/hybrid automobiles are becoming more and more important. All of these areas represent huge market size. The military will benefit from this dual use technology, which will enable low cost, high thermal tolerance, and minimized power electronicsdevices and systems. The success in this work will enable the U.S. to maintain leadership in the global competition in this area. Capturing even a tiny percentage of this predicted $2 billion market represents a significant opportunity for MCT.