SUPERCAPACITORS : NEW SUPER ENERGY STORAGE DEVICE

Nitin Kathuria, Assistant Professor

Electronics and Communication Branch Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology for
Women Ghaziabad, India nitin.kathuria.rkgitw@gmail.com

Richa Sharma, Lecturer

Electronics and Communication Branch Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology for
Women Ghaziabad, India sharma86richa@gmail.com

Abstract Supercapacitor is a new class of electrochemical double layer capacitor

which stores charge in it around two carbon electrodes dipped in alkaline
electrolyte. It has emerged with the potential to enable major advances in energy
storage. Supercapacitors are governed by the same fundamental equations as
conventional capacitors, but utilize higher surface area electrodes and thinner
dielectrics to achieve greater capacitances. This allows for energy densities
greater than those of conventional capacitors and power densities greater than
those of batteries. As a result, supercapacitors may become an attractive power
solution Its charging and discharging is not a chemical process as in batteries,
which is not an aging process so they live longer than batteries and also they
provide very high power output. Keywords- Batteries, Supercapacitors, Comparison

physical formats from small surface mount components to size of a cylindrical can.
It consists of two electrode immersed in an electrolyte as shown in the Fig (1)
[1].

I.

INTRODUCTION Fig 1&2 UltraCap layer and Electrode structure [1]

Electrical energy is required in many applications like telecommunication devices,

cellphones, cordless, standby power systems, electric vehicles etc and energy used
in these devices are specified in the terms of energy (Wh) or power (W) .Now with
the advancement in technology the devices need high and more lasting power device,
so it is often reasonable to think about a new power device which can provide high
power in the form of pulses which can be charged periodically from a primary
storage device(battery).As traditional capacitors cannot store that much charge ,so
is the need of Supercapacitors or Ultracapacitors .As the name suggests Super or
Ultra it is having high capacitance nearly three times the magnitude of the
conventional capacitors .Their characteristics differ from those of batteries and
they are useful because they complement the short comings of batteries and other
power supply devices. [2, 4] II.
WHAT IS SUPERCAPACITOR?

Basically, Supercapacitor or Ultracapacitor or EDLC (Electrochemical Double Layer

Capacitor) is, however a capacitor _ a two terminal component available in variety
of

When the electrodes are charged electrically, the ions in the electrolyte tend to
move to the oppositely charged electrode balancing the excess charge at the carbon
electrode. The electrode are made of high surface area, porous material having
pores of diameter nanometer (nm),preferably carbon. The extremely small pore gives
a very large active internal surface, in the order of 1000square meters per
gram.[3] Thus across the phase boundary between carbon and electrolyte there are
two layers of excess charge of opposite polarity .This is called Electrochemical
Double Layer [1]. The capacitance is dependent on the material of electrode such
as area, pore size and pore size distribution. Energy stored is purely static
rather than electrochemical as in battery And charging and discharging is purely
dependent of movement of ions and capacitance is stored in whole Farads (F),
instead of mere microfarads (uF)[1].
of supercapacitor energy density is low but power density is high. These parameters
are calculated in terms of energy or power per unit volume or per unit weight. Fig
4 shows graph of energy density vs power density in batteries and supercapacitors
with other power devices [4].

Fig 3 .Schematic of double layer Super capacitor [2] As shown in the ions displace
in forming the double layer in the pores are transferred between electrodes by
diffusion through electrolyte. The energy and charge stored in super capacitors
are 1/2CV 2 and CV, respectively.The capacitance is dependent on characteristics of
electrode and can be written as C/g= (F/cm^2) act* (cm^2/g) act where surface area
referred to is the active area in the pores on which the double layer is
formed[2]. The cell voltage of super capacitor is dependent on the electrolyte
used .For aqueous electrolytes the cell voltage is 1V,because water gets decomposed
at higher voltages and for organic electrolytes such as potassium hydroxide(KOH)or
sulphuric acid(H2SO4),the voltage is 3-3.5 V. For getting high voltage output the
capacitors can be connected in series but it decreases the capacitance so in order
to maintain the capacitance with high voltage requires an array i.e.
Series/parallel array [2, 3] III. COMPARISON BETWEEN SUPERCAPACITORS AND
BATTERIES

Fig 4.Comparison of Storage Technologies [1] C. Charging and Discharging Charging

and discharging occurs upon movement of ions within the electrolyte. This mode of
energy storage is in contrast to all battery technologies, since they are based on
the formation and dissolution of chemical compounds on the battery electrodes
(Faraday reactions). In comparison it is not necessary to reach a certain state of
charge (output voltage) in order to use a Supercapacitors. The battery output
voltage does not indicate the actual charging condition and is not easy to control
(flat voltage level between fully charged and discharged). The Supercapacitors
characteristics show a simple relationship between voltage level and charging
condition (Fig. 5) [1]. This important difference between charging a capacitor
and charging a battery is that there is always an intrinsic increase of voltage "V"
on charge (or decrease on discharge) of a capacitor as the charge per cm2 is
increased or decreased, according to Equation C = q/V or q = CV which defines the
relation between capacitance "C" and the inter-plate voltage "V" that arises from
accumulation of a charge "q": In contrast, an ideal battery has a constant voltage
during discharge or recharge except as the state of charge approaches 0 or 100%.
(Practically, most batteries exhibit some dependence of cell voltage on state of
charge, especially lithium-intercalation batteries, the latter for fundamental
reasons arising from intercalation). The consequence of the above difference, based
on Equation , is that the energy stored by a capacitor is 1/2 CV2 or 1/2 qV while,
for a battery, the corresponding stored energy (or energy density) is qV, twice as
much as that for a capacitor charged to the same cell voltage "V". Thus, the
stored energy in a capacitor device increases as the square of the cell voltage "V"
as charge is accumulated [6]

A. Lifetime The electric energy in batteries is stored in directly in the chemical

compounds and released on the basis of Faradays oxidation and reduction process of
electrochemically active material. The chemical reactions on the electrodes have
the major influence on the aging of batteries. In the capacitor, electric energy is
stored direct as a positive and negative charge on the plates, without any reaction
on the electrode surfaces. The aging of capacitors is not directly affected by
reverse charging process, and they can be charged and discharged frequently without
noticeable changes in the capacitors[1]. Therefore supercapacitor is having longer
lifetime.[1] B. Energy Density and Powe Density The major difference in super
capacitors and batteries in the values of their energy density and power
density.Batteries have a high level of energy stored (energy density). The rate at
which energy is released is low i.e. low power density whereas in case
V. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
OF SUPERCAPACITOR

A. Advantages Supercapacitors have the highest capacitive density available today

with densities so high that these capacitors can be used to applications normally
reserved for batteries. Supercapacitors are not as volumetrically efficient and are
more expensive than batteries but they do have other advantages over batteries
making the preferred choice in applications requiring a large amount of energy
storage to be stored and delivered in bursts repeatedly Fig .5.Comparison of
Battery and Ultra Capacitor charging and discharging curves [1] D. Low Temperature
Dependence As chemical reactions are temperature dependent therefore chemical
reaction in batteries will slow down at low temperatures and there is no chemical
reaction in Supercapacitors so they are very less affected by temperature change
but until the changes are within the range of Supercapacitor [3]. IV. COMPARISON
CHART Advantages: Power density Recycle ability Environmentally friendly
Safe Light weight The most significant advantage supercapacitors have over
batteries is their ability to be charged and discharged continuously without
degrading like batteries do. This is why batteries and supercapacitors are used in
conjunction with each other. The supercapacitors will supply power to the system
when there are surges or energy bursts since supercapacitors can be charged and
discharged quickly while the batteries can supply the bulk energy since they can
store and deliver larger amount energy over a longer slower period of time.[8]

Table: The following table gives a brief summary of some critical properties of
each technology [5].

Property

Supercapacitors

Capacitors

Micro-Fuel Cells

Batteries

B. Disadvantages Linear discharge voltage prevents use of the full energy

spectrum Low energy density - typically holds one-fifth to onetenth the energy of
an electrochemical battery Cells have low voltages - serial connections are needed
to obtain higher voltages. Voltage balancing is required if more than three
capacitors are connected in series High self-discharge - the rate is considerably
higher than that of an electrochemical battery. Requires sophisticated electronic
control and switching equipment [9] VI. APPLICATIONS Supercapacitors have found
uses include: Computer systems UPS systems Power conditioners Welders
Inverters Automobile regenerative braking systems Power supplies Cameras
Power generators[8]

Charge/Discharge Milliseconds ps (10 - Typically 1 to 10 Time to seconds 12) to ms

50 to 300 Hours (10 -3) hrs. Instant charge (refuel). Operating Temperature
Operating Voltage Capacitance Life -40 to +85 -20 to +25 to -20 to +65 C +100 C
+90 C C 2.5 V to 5 V 6 to 800 0.6 V / 1.25 to 3.6 V cell V 100 mF to > 10 pF to
N/A 2F 2.2 mF N/A to

30,000 to >100,000 1500 to 150 50,000 hrs cycles 10,000 1500 hrs cycles 1 to 2
grams grams

Weight Power Density

20 g to g to many 5+ kg kg

0.01 to 103 0.25 to 0.001 to 0.005 to kW/kg 104 0.1 0.4 kW/kg kW/kg kW/kg 0.05 to
10 0.01 to 300 to 8 to 600 Wh/kg 0.05 3000 Wh/kg Wh/kg Wh/kg 0.1 to 100 A 0.1 to
150 mA / 0.5 to 2.0 1000 A cm2 A

Energy Density

Pulse Load
VII. CONCLUSION This new source of electricity will replace the batteries in all
the applications of telecommunications, hybrid cars and others. This is because of
its high energy storage capacity, long life, high power and good reliability and
robustness as compared to the batteries. [7] Because of their flexibility, however,
supercapacitors can be adapted to serve in roles for which electrochemical
batteries are not as well suited. Also, supercapacitors have some intrinsic
characteristics that make them ideally suited to specialized roles and applications
that complement the strengths of batteries. In particular, supercapacitors have
great potential for applications that require a combination of high power, short
charging time, high cycling stability, and long shelf life. That is why
supercapacitor and battery work together, by merging a supercapacitor and a battery
together - like a "Hybrid Battery" it will be possible for supercapcitors to
replace the battery as we know it today. Supercapacitors need batteries to store
the energy and are basically used as a buffer between the battery and the device.
Supercapacitors can be charged and discharged hundreds of thousands of times where
a battery cannot do that. Soon the price point will be where most every electronic
device will use them as a hybrid battery. It will be the new super battery. [9]

REFERENCES
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