Rolls-Royce has signed a collaboration agreement with UK-based technology start-up Superdielectrics Ltd to explore the potential of using novel hydrophilic polymers to create next-generation high-energy storage technology. Superdielectrics Ltd is a material research company that has discovered, in self-funded research with the Universities of Surrey and Bristol, a new group of polymeric superdielectrics. The company has filed patents on these materials and is working to commercialize them in supercapacitor electrolyte materials and electrical energy storage. The University of Bristol estimates that these newly discovered materials have dielectric property values which are 1,000-10,000 times greater than conventional electrolyte solutions. Researchers from the universities achieved practical capacitance values of up to 4F/cm 2 on smooth low-cost metal foil electrodes. Existing supercapacitors on the market typically reach 0.3F/cm 2 depending upon complex extended surface electrodes. More significantly, the researchers managed to achieve results of 11-20F/cm 2 when the polymers were used with […]