Supercapacitor

Small supercapacitor

Supercapacitor is a type of capacitor that can store many times as much energy as older capacitors. They were developed in the late 20th century. In future electric cars or mobile phones might use supercapacitors.

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Supercapacitor Media

Schematic illustration of a supercapacitor.png

Schematic illustration of a supercapacitor
The number of non-patent publications about supercapacitors by year has been increasing 10-fold every 7 years since ca. 1990
Typical construction of a supercapacitor: (1) power source, (2) collector, (3) polarized electrode, (4) Helmholtz double layer, (5) electrolyte having positive and negative ions, (6) separator
Simplified view of a double-layer of negative ions in the electrode and solvated positive ions in the liquid electrolyte, separated by a layer of polarized solvent molecules
Structure and function of an ideal double-layer capacitor. Applying a voltage to the capacitor at both electrodes a Helmholtz double-layer will be formed separating the ions in the electrolyte in a mirror charge distribution of opposite polarity
Simplified view of a double-layer with specifically adsorbed ions which have submitted their charge to the electrode to explain the faradaic charge-transfer of the pseudocapacitance
A cyclic voltammogram (CV) shows the fundamental differences between static capacitance (rectangular) and pseudocapacitance (curved)
Charge storage principles of different capacitor types and their internal potential distribution
Basic illustration of the functionality of a supercapacitor, the voltage distribution inside of the capacitor and its simplified equivalent DC circuit
The voltage behavior of supercapacitors and batteries during charging/discharging differs clearly