This Tiny Supercapacitor Is Smaller Than Dust Particles – And Has As Much Voltage As An AAA Battery

With the passage of time, the technology that surrounds us is becoming more powerful and largely capable while at the same time, the same technology is becoming more portable and smaller in size by the day. It is amazing how this concept of smart technology is creating convenience for people.

Recently, a German team of researchers and scientists have discovered a way to combine miniaturized electronics with some origami-inspired fabrication. This is being called the smallest micro supercapacitor to ever exist. The size of the supercapacitor is claimed to be smaller than that of a speck of dust. At the same time, this is as powerful and as capable as an AAA battery.

An array of 90 tubular biosupercapacitors

The technology is not safe to use in the human body, but it supercharges its performance by using active ingredients from the blood. The researchers and scientists managed to work on the issue of the device being a health hazard to humans by removing any toxic and harmful chemicals or materials from its composition so it could be used to power implants and sensors.

These devices are called bio supercapacitors and the rough size of these is 3 mm^3. The composition comprises sheets of polymers with light-sensitive photoresist material that is used as the current collector, a separator membrane, and electrodes made from an electrically conductive biocompatible polymer called PEDOT: PSS.

The overall volume of the sheets adds up to be 0.001 mm^3. They are 3000 times smaller than the ones developed earlier but the functionality equates to that of an AAA battery. For a test, after being placed in blood for 16 hours, it retained 70 percent of its capacity. It works with enzymes and other active ingredients that enhance its activity by almost 40 percent. The article is published in Nature Communications

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