The Gravitational Mass of a Charged Supercapacitor

Fran De Aquino

Maranhao State University, Physics Department, S.Luis/MA, Brazil.Copyright

Electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), also known as supercapacitors, electrochemical double layercapacitors, or ultracapacitors, are electrochemical capacitors that have an unusually high energy density whencompared to common capacitors, typically on the order of thousands of times greater than a high capacityelectrolytic capacitor. It is shown here that when an EDLC is fully charged its

gravitational mass

is considerablyeater than when it is discharged.gr

Key words:

Supercapacitors, Energy storage systems

Experimental tests of gravitational theories

PACS:

88.80.fh; 84.60.Ve ,

04.80.Cc

1. Introduction

The electric double-layer capacitoreffect was first noticed in 1957 by GeneralElectric engineers experimenting withdevices using porous carbon electrode [1]. Itwas believed that the energy was stored inthe carbon pores and it exhibited"exceptionally high capacitance", althoughthe mechanism was unknown at that time.General Electric did not immediatelyfollow up on this work, and the modernversion of the devices were eventuallydeveloped by researchers at Standard Oil of Ohio in 1966, after they accidentally re-discovered the effect while working onexperimental fuel cell designs [2]. Their celldesign used

two layers of activated carbon

separated by a thin porous insulator, and thisbasic mechanical design remains the basis of most electric double-layer capacitors to thisday.An electric double-layer capacitor(EDLC), is known as

supercapacitor

, or

ultracapacitor

. Their energy density istypically hundreds of times greater thanconventional electrolytic capacitors. Theyalso have a much higher power density thanbatteries or fuel cells. As of 2011 EDLCs hada maximum working voltage of 5 volts andcapacities of up to 5,000 farads [3].Currently, the EDLCs are used forenergy storage rather than as general-purposecircuit components. The EDLCs also havetwo metal plates, but they are coated with

activated carbon

immersed in an electrolyte,and separated by an intervening insulator,forming in this manner, the double-layer of activated carbon inside the capacitor. Duringthe charging process, ions from theelectrolyte accumulate on the surface of each

carbon-coated plate.Here it is shown that when an EDLC isfully charged its

gravitational mass

isconsiderably greater than when it isdischarged.

2. Theory

Consider the cross-section of anEDLC as shown in Fig. 1. The double-layerin the EDLCs is generally made of

activated carbon

immersed in an

electrolyte whoseconductivity is much less than carbonconductivity

[4]. The result is that the conductivity of the double-layer becomesmuch less than the conductivity of theactivated carbon and, in this way, the double-layer can withstand a low voltage, and

nosignificant current flows through theactivated carbon layers

of an ELDC [3]. Thismeans that they are similar to dielectrics withvery low

dielectric strength

. Thus, due to theelectrical charge stored in the activatedcarbon layers, each layer can be consideredas a

non-conducting plane of charge,

withdensity of charge,

, where is thearea of the plates of the capacitor, and

CV q

is the amount of electrical chargestored in the activated carbon layers; is thecapacity of the EDLC. Thus, according to thewell-known expression of the electric fieldproduced by a

non-conducting plane of charge

[

5], we can conclude that the electricfield

through the layers

of activated carbon(See Fig.1) is given by

( )( ) ( )

( )

122

SCV E E E

layer r layer r layer

ε ε ε ε σ

====

+−

Consequently, the density of electromagneticenergy in the carbon layers is

( )( )

( )

281

202021

⎟ ⎠ ⎞⎜⎝ ⎛ ==

SCV E W

layer r layer layer r layer

ε ε ε ε

It was shown that the

relativistic

gravitational mass

is correlated with the

relativistic inertial mass

by means of thefollowing factor [

6]:

( )

M M

where

can be expressed by

( )

41121

⎪⎭⎪⎬⎫⎪⎩⎪⎨⎧⎥⎥⎥⎦⎤⎢⎢⎢⎣⎡−⎟⎟ ⎠ ⎞⎜⎜⎝ ⎛ +−=

cW n

ρ χ

where is the refraction index and

thedensity of the material.Substitution of Eq. (2) into Eq. (4),yields

( )( )

( )

518121

220

⎪⎭⎪⎬⎫⎪⎩⎪⎨⎧⎥⎥⎥⎦⎤⎢⎢⎢⎣⎡−⎥⎥⎦⎤⎢⎢⎣⎡⎟ ⎠ ⎞⎜⎝ ⎛ +−=

SCV n

layer layer r layer r

ρ ε μ χ

In the case of activated carbon layer:;

( )

≅

layer r

( )

≅

layer r

and .Thus, if the

supercapacitor

has;and is subjected tothen Eq. (5) gives

.800

−

≅

mkg

layer

F C

000,3

036.045.008.0

=×=

VoltsV

( )

614.1

−=

Substitution of Eq.(6) into Eq. (3) yields

( ) ( ) ( )

( )

714.114.1

layer ilayer ilayer g

M M M

=−=

This means an

increase

of 14% in thegravitational mass of the double-layer whenthe supercapacitor is fully charged. Sincethe mass of the double-layer is a significantpart of the total mass of the supercapacitor,we can conclude that,

when fully charged thesupercapacitor will display considerablymore mass than when it is discharged.

It is important to note that thegravitational mass of the double-layer canalso be

reduced

decreasing

the total mass

of the supercapacitor. This can occur, forexample, when.

VoltsV Volts

1.35.1

Conclusion

The theoretical results here obtainedfor the gravitational mass of an EDLC aregeneral for

energy accumulator cells

whichcontain