MEMS and Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) Power Sources
Nobody questions the need for smaller, more efficient, and longer-lasting portable power sources. One potential solution to the challenge of portable power is to store energy in the elastic deformation of a dense network of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CNTs have the potential to perform as super-springs because of their fundamental material properties: an effective Young's modulus about fives times that of typical high-carbon spring steel and yield strains more than an order of magnitude above typical spring materials. These properties enable a maximum energy density for CNTs that is about four orders of magnitude higher than the maximum energy density for steel springs. CNT super-springs also promise other important advantages, including rapid and fully reversible energy storage and discharge for full rechargeability and a lower sensitivity to harsh conditions such as extremes of temperatures as compared with batteries.
In this project, we are designing and modeling energy storage and extraction systems based on CNTs. To date, we have examined the potential performance of generator systems in which CNT springs supply energy to drive a small-scale generator. Our ongoing research focuses on the practical demonstration of CNT super-springs.
Current Team Members: Frances Hill, Timothy Havel, and Carol Livermore at MIT, in collaboration with A. John Hart of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Current Sponsorship: Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)