FURI | Fall 2018

Energy Harvesting: Capacitor Design

Mankind has an unsustainable impact on planet Earth. The population of 7 billion is exponentially increasing. It is necessary to develop alternative sources of energy for a sustainable future. With this research project, the goal is to develop a different type of supercapacitor that can harvest high-voltage electrostatic discharge (HVED) and store the energy as a resource. The challenge is choosing suitable electrodes, accounting for positively and negatively charged HVED, and increasing the capacitor charge rate. Future improvements can include mitigating damage to property caused by high voltage strikes and discharging the energy safely.