General Electric engineers experimenting with devices using porous carbon electrodes firstobserved the

EDLC effect in 1957. They believed that the energy was stored in the carbon poresand the device
exhibited "exceptionally high capacitance", although the mechanism wasunknown at that time. General
Electric did not immediately follow up on this work. In 1966researchers at Standard Oil of Ohio
developed the modern version of the devices, after theyaccidentally re-discovered the effect while
working on experimental fuel cell designs. Their celldesign used two layers of activated charcoal
separated by a thin porous insulator, and this basicmechanical design remains the basis of most electric
double-layer capacitors. Standard Oil alsofailed to commercialize their invention, licensing the
technology to NEC, who finally marketed

the results as ―supercapacitors‖ in 1978, to provide backup power for maintaining computer

memory. The market expanded slowly for a time, but starting around the mid-1990s variousadvances in
materials science and refinement of the existing systems led to rapidly improving performance and an
equally rapid reduction in cost. The first trials of supercapacitors inindustrial applications were carried
out for supporting the energy supply to robots. In 2005aerospace systems and controls company, Diehl
Luftfahrt GmbH chose supercapacitors to poweremergency actuation systems for doors and evacuation
slides in airliners, including the newAirbus 380 jumbo jet. In 2005, the ultracapacitor market was
between US $272 million and $400million, depending on the source. As of 2007 all solid state
micrometer-scale electric double-layer capacitors based on advanced superionic conductors had been
for low-voltage electronicssuch as deep-sub-voltage nanoelectronics and related technologies (the 22
nm technological nodeof CMOS and beyond).The electrochemical ultracapacitor is an emerging
technology that promises to play an importantrole in meeting the demands of electronic devices and
systems both now and in the future. Thisnewly available technology of ultracapacitors is making it easier
for engineers to balance theiruse of both energy and power. Energy storage devices like ultracapacitors
are normally usedalong with batteries to compensate for the limited battery power capability.