Close-up of structural supercapacitor. (Joe Howell / Vanderbilt) Imagine a future in which our electrical gadgets are no longer limited by plugs and external power sources. This intriguing prospect is one of the reasons for the current interest in building the capacity to store electrical energy directly into a wide range of products, such as a laptop whose casing serves as its battery, or an electric car powered by energy stored in its chassis, or a home where the dry wall and siding store the electricity that runs the lights and appliances. Andrew Westover, left, John Tian and Cary Pint admiring one of their supercapacitors. (Joe Howell / Vanderbilt) It also makes the small, dull grey wafers that graduate student Andrew Westover and Assistant Professor of Mechanical EngineeringCary Pint have made in Vanderbilt’s Nanomaterials and Energy Devices Laboratory far more important than their nondescript appearance suggests. “These devices demonstrate – for the first time as far as we can tell – that it is possible to create materials that can store and discharge significant amounts of electricity while they are subject to realistic static loads and dynamic forces, such as vibrations or impacts,” said Pint. “Andrew has managed to make our dream of
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