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michka:research:supercapacitors [2014-07-01 13:49] – michka | michka:research:supercapacitors [2014-07-01 14:05] – michka | ||
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====Home-Made Supercapacitors from Dead PC Batteries==== | ====Home-Made Supercapacitors from Dead PC Batteries==== | ||
- | This page reports the wonderful citizen science R&D workshop we had at FoAM with my dear friend [[http:// | + | This page reports the wonderful citizen science R&D workshop we had at FoAM with my dear friend [[http:// |
During three day, we tried to upcycle dead PC batteries into working supercapacitors, | During three day, we tried to upcycle dead PC batteries into working supercapacitors, | ||
- | We ended up being deeply involved with our upcycled supercapacitors manufacturing research and did not proceed to build the rest of the self-watering system. We also ended up having no functional supercapacitor | + | We ended up being deeply involved with our upcycled supercapacitors manufacturing research and did not proceed to build the rest of the self-watering system. |
+ | During the workshop, our interest slided from **trying to reproduce a design from [[http:// | ||
+ | We ended the workshop | ||
===Best design=== | ===Best design=== | ||
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Our best design was very simple. It was a sandwich design, which means that it was just a stack of dry material layers we taped all together. It contained three layers: | Our best design was very simple. It was a sandwich design, which means that it was just a stack of dry material layers we taped all together. It contained three layers: | ||
- | | + | |
* A cleaned up insulating material layer from the same dead Toshiba battery | * A cleaned up insulating material layer from the same dead Toshiba battery | ||
* A copper layer from the same dead Toshiba battery | * A copper layer from the same dead Toshiba battery | ||
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This step of the process is, in my opinion, the most hazardous. If the battery is still a little bit charged, you will end up with heat and sparks. Gloves could be useful. Even when it is not, you will have a strange smell coming out: this is the electrolyte evaporating. As we do not really know what the electrolyte is made of, it may be smart to wear a mask. | This step of the process is, in my opinion, the most hazardous. If the battery is still a little bit charged, you will end up with heat and sparks. Gloves could be useful. Even when it is not, you will have a strange smell coming out: this is the electrolyte evaporating. As we do not really know what the electrolyte is made of, it may be smart to wear a mask. | ||
- | ==Step 2 - Clean up== | + | ==Step 2 - Clean up the graphene from the copper layers & some insulating layers== |
+ | |||
+ | Scrap with your nails or whatever soft tools which will not make holes in the plastic or copper layer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Step 3 - Assemble the layers== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Put the layer of insulating material coated with graphene at the bottom, with the graphene-coated side facing you. | ||
+ | * Tape a layer of cleaned-up insulating material on top of this one. | ||
+ | * Tape a layer of cleaned-up copper on top of the second one, making sure to avoid any copper to graphene contact. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Step 4 - Measure the initial voltage== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Measure the voltage between the copper layer and the graphene layer. There was an initial voltage every time we assembled such a sandwich. This step allows you to see what the polarity of the design is and charge it adequately. Our negative pole was the graphene layer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Step 5 - Charge it== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Put the + of the power source on your + pole, and - on -. Check the current flow on your power source screen. We used small voltage to charge, from 1 V to 5 V. Start small. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Step 6 - Measure the charge== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once the current is back to 0 A and stable, measure the voltage between the copper layer and the graphene layer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Step 7 - Test it== | ||
+ | |||
+ | You can tape several of these and connect them in series by soldering contacts from one to another. For graphene contacts, we used a small bit of copper that we taped and tried to maintain with pressure against graphene. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once you reach a sufficiently interesting voltage, try to connect a LED and see what happens. | ||
====Information Sources==== | ====Information Sources==== |