ULTRAHIGH ENERGY STORAGE POLYMER CAPACITORS

FOSTER-MILLER PROPOSES AN INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUE TO FABRICATE ALL POLYMER, ULTRAHIGH ENERGY DENSITY DOUBLE LAYER CAPACITORS TO MEET SPACE POWER CONDITIONING NEEDS OF THE SDI. THE FOSTER-MILLER APPROACH IS BASED ON INFILTRATING AN IONICALLY CONDUCTING POLYELECTROLYTE WITH THE MONOMER OF AN ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING POLYMER. THE MONOMER WILL BE POLYMERIZED "IN-SITU" ACHIEVING A HIGH DEGREE OF MOLECULAR ORIENTATION TO RESULT IN A POLYMER WITH A CONDUCTIVITY, ON THE ORDER OF 7500 S/CM. THE CONDUCTING POLYMER WILL HAVE A NODULAR SURFACE WITH VERY HIGH SURFACE AREA WHICH TRANSLATES INTO VERY HIGH ENERGY DENSITIES. THE RESULTING INTERPENETRATED POLYMER NETWORK (IPN) WILL BE THIN AND FLEXIBLE AND CAN BE FABRICATED INTO VERY LARGE CAPACITORS. IN PHASE I, WE WILL EVALUATE CURRENT POLYMERS, SELECT A CONDUCTOR/ELECTROLYTE COMBINATION AND DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF OUR APPROACH BY FABRICATING BREADBOARD CAPACITORS. IN PHASE II, THE PROCESSES WILL BE OPTIMIZED TO REALIZE THE FULL PERFORMANCE POTENTIAL OF THIS APPROACH AND LARGE PROTOYPE CAPACITORS WILL BE FABRICATED AND TESTED. DEMONSTRATION OF RELIABLE, ALL POLYMER, VERY HIGH ENERGY STORAGE CAPACITOR WILL FORM A FIRM BASIS FOR A COMMERCIALLY SUPPORTED PHASE III PROGRAM.