The ElectroGraph project is one of those amazing combinations of protagonists. It  has Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) as the lead partner, with Italy's Centro Ricerche Fiat S.C.p.A, the Slovakia-based Danubia NanoTech s.r.o. (Ltd.) headquartered in Bratislava,  Edinburgh's Scottish Institute of Occupational Medicine, Spain's Asturias-located Instituto Nacional del Carbon, and four universities,  Paris Diderot –Paris 7, UK's Exeter and Nottingham along with Ireland's Trinity College, Dublin.

The ElectroGraph project follows and will use an integrated technology driven approach in development of both electrode materials as well as the electrolyte solutions required for optimising the overall performance of supercapacitors.

The combination of graphene and graphene-based material as electrode materials, and use of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as electrolyte is the target of development. At the end of the project the performance of those materials is to be demonstrated in the functional model of supercapacitor.

Graphene in laboratory testing has shown the potential to significantly increase both the energy density and power density of ultracapacitors. Maxwell Technologies SA will receive approximately €325,000 over three years for its part in a multi-party collaboration. The research has received funding from the EU's Seventh Framework Program (FP/2007-2013) 

"Maxwell will lend its expertise in ultracapacitor fundamentals and technology development to gain insight into the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of using graphene as a commercial-scale electrode material," said Michael Everett, Maxwell's VP and CTO.

"This will be the first industrial evaluation of this material at the device level. If it is successful, it will enable Maxwell to establish a leadership position in development of a new generation of high-performance ultracapacitor products."