If Alfred Hubler’s digital quantum battery theory pans out, he may be able to create a battery that has an energy storage capacity that is magnitudes greater than that of conventional battery technologies.

Hubler, an associate professor in physics, is the lead author of a paper outlining his theory, “Digital Quantum Batteries: Energy and Information Storage in Nano Vacuum Tube Arrays,” to be published in the science journal Complexity .

“We asked the question, ‘Why you can store so much energy in gasoline or kerosene, and so little energy in capacitors?,’” Hubler said.

Onyeama Osuagwu, a graduate student and co-author of the paper, said, “The theory itself is fairly sound, the next step is getting the technology fully developed.”

Hubler aims at creating an array of nanometer vacuum tubes that would have larger energy and power densities than lithium batteries. Since the power density (the speed at which energy can be stored or released) would be larger than conventional battery technologies, the battery would recharge more quickly.

One of the challenges to Hubler’s theory is building a nanoscale array. The technology is available to produce an array of micrometer vacuum tubes, such as those used in LCD screens. Hubler also said a group of Korean researchers in 2005 showed it was possible to fabricate an array of nanoscale vacuum tubes. For Hubler’s theory to work, it would have to utilize billions of such devices.

“We want to build a large array of them fixed, operate it in reverse bias, and see how much energy we can store,” he said.

By applying a reverse bias voltage across the array, the flow of current is blocked, and the vacuum-tubes act as a capacitor.

The life-expectancy of quantum batteries may be substantially greater than regular batteries, due to semi-conductor materials being used. Whereas life expectancy of conventional batteries is often quoted in hours, the life time of a capacitor is upwards of 10 years.

Hubler said he believes that the fabrication cost of quantum batteries would decrease once it moved into mass production, just like other forms of electronics.

Furthermore Hubler said his proposed theory might also make it possible to store information in the nanoscale capacitors, increase the storage capacity of a device while powering it.

“This is a merger between nanotechnology, quantum physics, information technology, and energy technologies,” he said.

Graduate student David Lyon is currently working on using carbon nanotubes to create the nanoscale electronic array.

“As we hit the scale of current electronics, a few tens of nanometers, the fields are so strong, over 10 million volts per meter, that they cause enough pressure to make the electrodes fail mechanically”, he said.

Lyon said the strongest material known to sustain the highest electric fields is carbon nanotubes.

“The potential is incredible but there’s still a lot of work to do before it’s realized,” he said. Osuagwu was cautious to say when he thinks a prototype might be developed, but he said of the work they’ve done so far, “This is a great step in this direction.”