Ushering in a new era of oxynitrides based energy storage (supercapacitors).

We have been continually innovating to nudge energy storage technologies further. This is a critical requirement for technology since we are progressively moving towards large scale adoption of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydro etc.). These renewables vary greatly with time. Energy storage is hence necessary since harnessing renewables mean that one ought to store up energy whenever possible. 

We have been making devices which complement batteries. These devices are called supercapacitors, and they employ nanoparticles (very tiny chunks of solid matter) to store up charges (hence energy). These charges are stored at the boundaries between the surfaces of nanoparticles and the starting of an electrolyte (in this case, an alkaline solution). These devices though enormously promising for energy storage, suffer from degradation. This presents a challenge from a practical standpoint.

We are coming up with solutions to this long-standing problem. We have shown that oxynitrides, compounds containing a metal, oxygen, and nitrogen are promising for making super-conductors. These materials, when rendered in nanoparticle form, can indeed offer a substitute for the current technology (which relies primarily on oxides, made of metals and oxygen).

What is more is that we are using cutting edge molecular dynamics, data science and machine learning, in order to nudge this area. This has accelerated materials discovery, to the point that we are now able to go from materials to devices to system implementation in our lab. We are now developing products based on this nascent technology. Would you want to join us in this adventure?! 😊