HIGH ENERGY DENSITY MOLECULAR COMPOSITE CAPACITOR FILM

STATE-OF-THE-ART HIGH ENERGY CAPACITOR TECHNOLOGY IS APPROACHING 3 KJ/KG, BUT IT WILL TAKE A MATERIALS BREAKTHROUGH TO REACH BEYOND THIS GOAL. A MOLECULAR COMPOSITE CONSISTING OF A NEW POLYMER AND/OR BLEND/COPOLYMERS THAT WILL BE SPECIFICALLY TAILORED TO RESIST HIGH VOLTAGE BREAKDOWN AND TO INCREASE DIELECTRIC CONSTANT CAN BE THAT MATERIAL. THE PROPOSED PHASE I PROGRAM WILL CREATE THIS NEW MOLECULAR COMPOSITE USING A POWERFUL COMPUTER MODELING PROGRAM DEVELOPED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOWELL. THIS MOLECULAR COMPOSITE WILL BE SYNTHESIZED AND MADE INTO FILM USING ADVANCED FILM PROCESSING TECHNIQUES ALREADY DEVELOPED AND PROVEN ON OTHER PROGRAMS. THIS FILM WILL BE TESTED AND EVALUATED BY ONE OF THE WORLD LEADERS IN HIGH POWER CAPACITOR FABRICATOR, MAXWELL LABORATORIES. A SUCCESSFUL TEST AT MAXWELL WILL FORM THE BASIS OF A PHASE II PROGRAM THAT WILL OPTIMIZE THE NEW MOLECULAR COMPOSITE FILM AND THOROUGHLY TEST AND CHARACTERIZE IT. PROTOTYPE CAPACITORS WILL THEN BE FABRICATED AND TESTED BY MAXWELL.