Rolls-Royce is teaming up with UK-based material research company Superdielectrics to develop advanced energy storage systems using polymers.
Rolls-Royce said the collaboration agreement would see the firm combine its material science and technical expertise with Superdielectrics’ “novel hydrophilic polymers— that have been shown to have potentially outstanding energy storage properties”.
Superdielectric says its self-funded research with the UK universities of Surrey and Bristol has discovered “an entirely new group of polymeric superdielectrics”.
The company has been developing hydrophilic materials “similar to those originally designed for soft contact lenses, to increase the electricity storage capabilities of capacitors, which store electricity by creating electrostatic fields”.
According to Superdielectric, “these potentially exciting dielectric polymers may provide an opportunity to create capacitors that are able to rival— and even exceed— the storage capacity of traditional rechargeable batteries”. The resulting supercapacitors may also be able to charge much faster than existing lithium-ion batteries, the company said.
Details of the agreement with Rolls-Royce are confidential, but Superdielectrics CEO Jim Heathcote said the partnership “gives us access to their unparalleled scientific and technical expertise… and I hope will ultimately create new jobs and business opportunities in the UK”.
Superdielectrics has already discovered, filed patents and started commercialising its “scientific breakthrough in supercapacitor electrolyte materials and electrical energy storage”. The University of Bristol estimates the newly-discovered materials have dielectric property values that are 1,000-10,000 times greater than conventional electrolyte solutions.
Earlier this month, Superdielectrics won the award for excellence in the field of environmental technology research at a conference in Monaco hosted by London-based investor bank Innovator Capital, which provides corporate finance to emerging sustainable technology, ICT and life science companies.
