Kinetic Energy-storage in Paper-based Supercapacitors
Regulated exhaust emissions can be efficiently reduced by using modern engine technology and exhaust aftertreatment. The challenge is to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2 and to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. A considerable amount of kinetic energy is lost during deceleration in form of heat in the friction brakes. With KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), which uses a vehicle generator converts kinetic energy into electrical energy can this energy be recycled. The electrical energy can be stored in the flywheels, batteries or supercapacitors and then be used to drive the electric motor during acceleration. The challenge is to store the high power that occurs from decelerating a vehicle for a short period of time. This is currently used in some fields of motorsport. Otherwise is KERS development at an early stage and there are very few mass produced KERS with high efficiency.
Supercapacitors (SC) are actually an ideal energy storage device seen from a purely technical point of view, but they are expensive and relatively large and heavy. We address the cost problem by developing paper-based SC and we also see that the volume and weight has a great potential to be reduced due to the use of new electrode materials. We want to go from KERS to KEPS (Kinetic Energy-storage in Paper-based Supercapacitors).