Energy-storing carbon fibre composites pave the way to weightless batteries

Share

From ESS News

Sinonus, a spin-out from Chalmers Technical University (CTU) in Sweden, has developed a unique carbon fiber material that can store electrical energy, enabling energy storage in existing structures for a variety of industries – from electric vehicles and airplanes to wind turbine blades.

The company was founded in 2022, a year after CTU researchers found a way to apply their carbon fiber composites to real-world applications. Presently, Sinonus says it is on the cusp of commercializing its technology.

“Sinonus has developed an amazing carbon fiber composite that doubles as a battery,” Markus Zetterström, wrote on LinkedIn as he accepted the role of the company’s CEO a month ago. “By substituting part of the structural material in systems/applications to our multipurpose composite, it’s possible to add electrical storage capacity at sustained weight and volume, or to decrease system weight and volume at sustained battery capacity (and of course some combination thereof).”

The energy density of the material is dependent on the required structural and electrical properties of the application.

“One might say that the higher the structural needs/specifications are, the lower the energy density becomes (and the other way around). While keeping a good structural capacity the possible span of energy density is around 25-50% of a conventional lithium-ion battery at current technology level,” Zetterström tells ESS News.

Sinonus has already demonstrated the technology’s potential by replacing AAA batteries in low-power products in its lab. Its goal is to expand the technology to larger applications such as IoT devices, and eventually to drones, computers, larger vehicles, and even airplanes.

To continue reading, please visit our ESS News website.

 

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Daikin launches air-to-water heat pumps for single-family homes
16 December 2024 Daikin has released a line of residential heat pumps, using propane (R290) as the refrigerant, with outdoor unit dimensions of 1,122 mm x 1,330 mm x 6...