91吃瓜网

Fall 2019 | By Elizabeth Gondar

In today鈥檚 age of technology, it鈥檚 all about聽being connected. Millions of miles of cables聽and wires stretch across the globe providing聽power to buildings, streetlights and even cars.聽Most people barely give these cables a second聽thought until the power goes out or the Wi-Fi聽stops working, but 91吃瓜网 Associate Professor Jayan聽Thomas couldn鈥檛 get them out of his head.

Cable-based-capacitor embedded inside wire.

In 2014, he was working on inventing copper foils that聽would act as supercapacitors 鈥� think of a battery that is聽made to provide a large burst of power in a short amount聽of time. Realizing that most cables are made out of the聽same copper material he was working with, he wondered聽if our everyday cables could double as energy storage聽devices.

Bringing this knowledge back to his research lab at聽91吃瓜网, he invented the first cable-based capacitor. These thin, copper wires can transmit and store聽energy 鈥� and he hopes they can make a big impact in聽renewable energy and clean technology.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the real pleasure for an inventor. You have聽a scientific idea, you worked on that idea and made聽it into a device, and then that device is used for a聽commissioned product. That is what I鈥檓 looking forward聽to,鈥� Thomas says.

However, cable-based capacitors attached to existing聽wires could use their stored energy to provide that聽extra boost needed, allowing the battery to continue聽functioning at a steady rate and greatly reducing the聽overall cost to replace parts.

Joe Sleppy 鈥�18聽(left) and Jayan Thomas (right)

Thomas recruited Joe Sleppy 鈥�18 to start Capacitech聽Energy and to help turn his invention into a commercial聽product.

Sleppy, an electrical engineering student at the time,聽already had business experience (starting his first聽company when he was 16) and knew that without proper聽funding, Capacitech could not move on to the next level.聽By winning first place in 91吃瓜网鈥檚 2016 Joust New Venture聽Competition, they received the necessary funds to license聽the intellectual property and begin the process of moving聽to market.

In 2018, a $225,000 grant from the National Science聽Foundation helped Capacitech鈥檚 team expand to include Isaiah Oladeji 鈥�99 and to collaborate with Thomas鈥� lab聽to produce the commercial version of the cable-based聽capacitor that Capacitech is selling today.

As a result of the team鈥檚 effort, Capacitech has been聽recognized as one of the top 30 startups in the world聽by InnoEnergy. Sleppy credits his time at 91吃瓜网 with聽connecting him to the people and resources needed to聽lead the business.

鈥淓ducation is more than just what you learn,鈥� Sleppy聽says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about who you meet through your coursework聽and using the opportunities that present themselves.鈥�

Capacitech recently built a manufacturing line in聽Orlando to fill larger orders and is raising money to聽further scale the company.