Energy Storage: Sodium Supercapacitors

A team of researchers has managed to optimize sodium-ion supercapacitors – an alternative technology to lithium-ion supercapacitors that has the advantage of being based on an abundant and well-distributed element on the planet, sodium. The authors used a combination of characterization techniques to understand the impact of different liquid electrolytes on the performance, safety, and durability of the supercapacitors. In this way, they were able to determine which would be the best options. “The electrolytes we studied could be easily incorporated into existing production lines, which is an important advantage for commercialization,” says Raissa Venâncio, a postdoctoral researcher at CINE and lead author of the study. Learn more.

Interview with Lucia Mascaro

Lucia Mascaro had no family members with university degrees, but in high school she fell in love with Chemistry and decided that this would be her profession. Later, she found in science an ideal space to develop and contribute. Today, she is part of the minority group of women who have reached the highest levels of a scientific career. At CINE, she coordinates research on the sustainable production of hydrogen, a topic she began working on in 1994 during her postdoctoral studies. Learn more.

CINE Seminar Series

The third edition of the CINE Talks program is beginning. This year, the series will feature presentations by postdoctoral researchers from the Center and external guests, who will address key themes in the energy transition. The seminars will be held on the Google Meets platform and are open to the public. “In this series, we will give visibility to the scientific, technological, and conceptual advances developed by CINE researchers, in addition to consolidating a continuous space for integration between the different areas of the Center,” says Juarez L. F. Da Silva, coordinator of Education and Dissemination of Knowledge. On March 20th, the inaugural seminar will present a computational study on electrocatalysts for hydrogen production through water electrolysis. Learn more.

Postdoctoral researcher Paulo Ernesto Marchezi (UNICAMP) gave an invited lecture at the 6th International School on Hybrid, Organic and Perovskite Photovoltaics (HOPE-PV 2025), held from November 17th to 21st, 2025 in Zhengzhou, China, with the participation of leading researchers in perovskite, organic, and hybrid solar cells. During the event, Marchezi presented the lecture “Advanced In-Situ and Operando Characterization of Perovskite Solar Cells: From Nucleation to Degradation Pathways”. The presentation highlighted recent research results developed at CINE on the use of advanced in-situ and operando characterization techniques to investigate, in real time, the mechanisms of nucleation, growth, defect formation, and degradation in perovskite photovoltaic devices. The results contribute to the rational development of more efficient, stable, and scalable architectures, bringing the technology closer to commercial application. The invitation to present the lecture highlights the international recognition of the quality of CINE’s work in this area.

Follow us on social media