Emission-free hydrogen has the potential to entirely replace fossil fuels, and a startup in Germany, Enapter, believes it has the key to making this green technology accessible to all.

Vaitea Cowan, co-founder of Enapter, was inspired by her upbringing on a climate-change-affected South Pacific island. “I wanted to replace all the diesel generators in New Caledonia and remote areas that relied on dirty diesel,” she explains. “But realizing the potential for green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels, I wanted to be part of this change.”

Capacitors, the unsung heroes of energy storage, play a crucial role in powering everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. They store energy from batteries in the form of an electrical charge and enable ultra-fast charging and discharging. However, their Achilles’ heel has always been limited energy storage efficiency.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have unveiled a groundbreaking capacitor design that could overcome these energy storage challenges. In a study published in Science, lead author Sang-Hoon Bae, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, demonstrates a novel heterostructure that curbs energy loss, enabling capacitors to store more energy and charge rapidly without sacrificing durability.