Electrochemistry Communications 12 (2010) 242–245

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Electrochemistry Communications
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/elecom

A measurement method for determination of dc internal resistance

of batteries and supercapacitors
Shuhong Zhao a, Feng Wu a, Liuxiang Yang b, Lijun Gao b,*, Andrew F. Burke c,*
a
Department of Materials Science, Beijing Science and Technology University, Beijing 100081, China
b
Department of Chemistry, NanChang University, JiangXi 330031, China
c
Institute of Transportation, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Internal resistance is an importance parameter determining the power performance of a battery or sup-
Received 20 November 2009 ercapacitor. An 8.5 Ah Li-ion battery and a 350 F supercapacitor were tested as examples to validate the
Received in revised form 7 December 2009 measurement method of dc internal resistance. Voltage data were taken at 10 ms, 2 s and 30 s after the
Accepted 8 December 2009
current interruption or pulse. The ac resistances at 1 kHz of the battery and supercapacitor were also
Available online 30 December 2009
measured for comparison with the dc values. Based on these tests, it is proposed that the dc internal
resistance of the battery and supercapacitor be obtained from DV/DI where the DV is the voltage change
Keywords:
after the current interruption, and DI means current change from I to 0. When the voltage change at
DC resistance
Measurement method
10 ms or less is selected, the resistance corresponds to the Ohmic resistance of the device.
Current interruption Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Battery
Supercapacitor

1. Introduction reactions (polarization in the battery) [4–7]. Ideally internal resis-

Internal resistance of an energy storage device, either a battery
or a supercapacitor, is an importance parameter that determines
their power performance. For commercial products, the manufac-
turers usually provide two types of internal resistance, i.e. dc inter-
nal resistance and ac internal resistance. For ac resistance, typically
the parameter is measured at 1 kHz frequency, namely Rs at 1 kHz.
For dc resistance, there has been no standard regarding the method
of measurement. In the battery test manual of USABC 1996, appen-
dix I [1], the internal resistance of the battery is measured by
R = (V2  V1)/(I2  I1), where the V2 is measured at 30 s after a pulse
current (from I1 to I2) is provided, and V1 is the voltage before cur-
rent pulse. This method of determination of dc resistance has been
adopted by some battery manufacturers, and it has been widely re-
garded as ‘‘the” standard of dc resistance measurement.
For a battery or supercapacitor, the internal resistance is depen-
dent on many factors, such as conductivity of electrolyte, electrode
material, and current collectors, as it was also discussed in litera-
ture [2,3]. The Ohmic internal resistance should be distinguished
from the influence of electrode processes, such as voltage changes
due to electrochemical double layer charge/discharge and faradaic
* Corresponding authors. Address: Department of Chemistry, NanChang Univer-
sity, JiangXi 330031, China. Tel./fax: +86 791 3969517 (L. Gao), tel./fax: +1 530 752
9812 (A.F. Burke).
E-mail addresses: glj@ncu.edu.cn (L. Gao), afburke@ucdavis.edu (A.F. Burke).
tance should be measured by instantaneous voltage change after a
current pulse or interruption. However when it comes to practical
measurements, time resolution regarding to how the dc resistance
from iR drop is determined has become an issue.
In this work, we propose a realistic measurement approach to
determine the dc resistance of batteries and supercapacitors. Two
storage device samples, an 8.5 Ah capacity Li-ion battery and a
350 F supercapacitor, were tested to illustrate the validity and
effectiveness of the proposed method. Two measurement methods
of current interruption or pulse were performed, i.e. I ? 0 and
0 ? I, and the cell voltage changes were measured at 10 ms inter-
vals. The dc resistance was calculated from the voltage change over
the value of current I. It is suggested that the dc resistance be
determined from a current interruption method, i.e. I ? 0, and
the voltage change be taken at short times after the current
interruption.
2. Experimental
The dc resistance tests were performed on an 8.5 Ah capacity
LiFePO4/graphite Li-ion battery (from Headway, China) and a
350 F commercial carbon/carbon supercapacitor (from Maxwell
USA). The battery and supercapacitor are first charged to 100%
SOC (state of charge). In I ? 0 tests, the cells are charged or dis-
charged at selected currents for 2 s from the open circuit voltage.
The charge or discharge current is then set to zero instantaneously.

1388-2481/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.elecom.2009.12.004
 S. Zhao et al. / Electrochemistry Communications 12 (2010) 242–245 243

In the 0 ? I tests, the cells are rested for 2 s at open circuit voltage, 3.40
then a charge or discharge current pulse at a selected current is ap-
plied. The voltages after the current interruption or pulse are mea-
(a) V1 0.5C
3.38 1C
sured at 10 ms intervals for 30 s. Internal resistance is calculated
from
IRs drop
Rs ¼ ðV 2  V 1 Þ=ðI2  I1 Þ ð1Þ 3.36

Voltage (V)
where V1 is the voltage before the current change (I ? 0 as interrup-
3.34
tion or 0 ? I as pulse), V2 is the voltage taken at 10 ms or 2 s or 30 s
after the current change. I1 and I2 are the current values before and V2 (10 ms)
after the current change, either interruption or pulse. 3.32 V2 (2 s) V2 (30 s)
The equipment for the testing was a Maccor Series 4000 battery
tester. The ac impedance tests were performed using a Zahner
3.30
IM6ex electrochemical workstation. The Maccor tester is capable
of 10 ms sampling rate, which is the fastest data acquisition rate
available with reliability. 3.28
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
3. Results and discussion Time (s)

In the test procedure of electric vehicle battery test procedure 3.34

manual [1], the internal resistance measurement method is dis-
cussed in appendix I, where a ‘dynamic’ resistance determined 3.32 (b) 0.5C
1C
from a measurement of DV/DI between a base current and a high
3.30
current step. The changes in voltage and current are measured
from a point in time just before the beginning of a 30 s current
3.28
pulse to a point near the end of the 30 s pulse. The resulting resis-
tance value is calculated from R = DV/DI = (V1  V2)/(I1  I2). How-
voltage (V)

3.26
ever this method of measuring voltage change at 30 s will over-
estimate the value of internal resistance for most applications, 3.24
since in the 30 s response time the voltage change will include con-
tributions from double layer charge or discharge and faradaic elec- 3.22
trode reactions.
3.20
3.1. Batteries
3.18
In Fig. 1a, the battery is first charged at 0.5C and 1C rates for 2 s, -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
and followed by current interruption to 0 A, or I ? 0. The discharge Time (s)
test is shown in Fig. 1b. In each case, the cell voltage response is
recorded for 30 s after the current interruption at 10 ms intervals,
3.65
which is the data acquisition limit of the equipment. The dc inter-
nal resistances for the current interruption tests are calculated 3.60 (c) 1C charge
from (V2  V1)/(I2  I1) with V2 taken at 10 ms, 2 s and 30 s. The re- 3.55
sults are shown in Table 1, where it is seen that there are signifi-
3.50
cant differences of Rs from V2 at 10 ms, 2 s and 30 s. At 0.5C
Voltage (V)

charge rate, the Rs (10 ms) = 7.5 mX, Rs (2 s) = 9.8 mX, and Rs 3.45
(30 s) = 10.8 mX. At higher 1C charge rate, the Rs values at corre- 0.5C charge
3.40
sponding times are similar to those measured at 0.5C rate. The
3.35
internal resistance inferred from the measurement of voltage at
30 s is 44% higher than that from 10 ms, and the resistance at 2 s 3.30
0.5C discharge
is 31% higher than at 10 ms. The ac resistance is lower than the 3.25
dc resistance for all cases, which is possibly due to the short time
3.20
response of ac measurement at 1 kHz or 1 ms time frame. The dc 1C discharge
internal resistance at 10 ms is primarily the Ohmic resistance. 3.15
The resistance at 2 s includes some effects of concentration gradi- -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
ents (diffusion) and faradaic reactions in the battery. Time (s)
Fig. 1c shows the response of the battery cell to 30 s charge and
discharge pulses (0 ? I). The dc resistances were calculated Fig. 1. Voltage time response of an 8.5 Ah LiFePO4/GC Li-ion battery. (a) The battery
was first charged at 0.5C (I1 = 4.25 A) and 1C (I1 = 8.5 A) for 2 s, and followed by
accordingly and shown in Table 1. The Rs values at 10 ms for the current interruption to I2 = 0 A, rested for 30 s. (b) The battery was first discharged
0 ? I case are close to those obtained by current interruption at 0.5C (I1 = 4.25A) and 1C (I1 = 8.5A) for 2 s, and followed by current interruption to
method I ? 0. However, it is apparent that in the long time domain I2 = 0 A, rested for 30 s. (c) The battery was rested for 2 s (I1 = 0 A), then a discharge
especially taking V2 at 30 s, the Rs is significantly higher from the or charge current pulse of 0.5C (I2 = 4.25 A) and 1C (I2 = 8.5 A) was supplied for 30 s.
Data acquisition was taken at 10 ms interval.
0 ? I test than from the I ? 0 test. This is due to the involvement
of electrochemical reactions at electrodes when charge or dis-
charging current is applied over the long time periods, which leads 1 that the pulse and current interruption methods yield close to
to an over-estimation of the dc internal resistance. Note from Table the same resistance values for 10 ms and 2 s.
244 S. Zhao et al. / Electrochemistry Communications 12 (2010) 242–245

Table 1
The dc internal resistance of an 8.5 Ah LiFePO4/GC Li-ion battery starting from open circuit of 3.3 V, Rs was measured by (V2  V1)/(I2  I1) where voltage V2 was taken at 10 ms,
2 s and 30 s following the current interruption I ? 0 or pulse 0 ? I.

Charge or discharge rate V2 response time

I ? 0, dc Rs (mX) 0 ? I, dc Rs (mX)
10 ms 2s 30 s 10 ms 2s 30 s
0.5C (charge) 7.5 9.8 10.8 7.7 9.2 28.0 ac Rs at 1 kHz 6.0 mX
0.5C (discharge) 7.8 8.9 11.2 7.7 10.4 16.1
1C (charge) 7.3 9.9 11.0 8.1 10.1 29.4
1C (discharge) 7.9 10.1 11.0 7.8 10.4 14.0

Table 2
The dc internal resistance of a 350F capacitor starting from open circuit of 2.5 V, Rs was measured by (V2  V1)/(I2  I1) where the voltage V2 was taken at 10 ms, 2 s and 30 s
following the current interruption I ? 0, or pulse 0 ? I.

Charge or discharge rate V2 response time

I ? 0, dc Rs (mX) 0 ? I, dc Rs (mX)
10 ms 2s 30 s 10 ms 2s
0.5C (charge) 1.8 3.8 4.6 2.1 9.2 ac RS at 1 kHz 1.3 mX
0.5C (discharge) 1.7 3.7 3.7 2.3 8.9
1C (charge) 1.7 3.8 4.0 2.3 9.3
1C (discharge) 1.8 3.6 3.7 2.2 9.3

3.2. Supercapacitors
2.64
The voltage responses of the supercapacitor in I ? 0 tests are (a)
2.60
shown in Fig. 2a. It is clear from Fig. 2a that the voltage initially
50C charge
experiences an iR drop after the current interruption, then quickly
2.56
reaches a steady-state value. This phenomenon differs from that of
Voltage (V)

the battery where voltage response recovers gradually as indicated 2.52 20C charge
by the curves in Fig. 1. This response of the supercapacitor is con-
sistent with the analytical solutions given in references [8–10] in 2.48 20C discharge
which the supercapacitor in a charge/discharge process reaches
the steady-state status in a fraction of an RC time constant upon 2.44
current interruption. Hence it is expected that the capacitor would
responded very fast when I ? 0. It is seen from Table 2 that the Rs 2.40 50C discharge
(10 ms) from the I ? 0 test is about 1.7 mX for all cases. The resis-
tances inferred from the voltages at 2 s (which is close to the rated 2.36
ESR value of 3.2 mX of the commercial product [11]) and 30 s are
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
about a factor of 2 higher than that from 10 ms. This observation
seems to indicate that the steady-state resistance of the device is Time (s)
attained in 2 s or less. The steady-state resistance differs from
the Ohmic resistance in that the former includes some contribution 3.4
of double layer response due to ion diffusion in the pore walls of 3.2
(b)
50C charge
porous material. The ac resistance at 1 kHz was measured to be
3.0
1.3 mX which is again lower than the dc resistance obtained at
2.8 20C charge
Voltage (V)

10 ms or longer time.
Fig. 2b shows the voltage responses of the supercapacitor in 2.6
0 ? I tests. The voltage vs. time curves in Fig. 2b shows the near 2.4
linear response of supercapacitors in charge and discharge pro-
2.2 20C discharge
cesses. In this test, the change in voltage with time is due primarily
to the capacitance response of the device and not to a change in 2.0
resistance as is the case for the longer pulses in batteries. Hence 1.8 50C discharge
the resistance value of primary interest in Table 2 for the 0 ? I 1.6
tests are those inferred at 10 ms. This value of Rs = 2.2 mX from
1.4
Table 2 is seen to be higher than the 1.7 mX inferred from the
I ? 0 tests. This is reasonable, considering that when the current -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
is cut (I ? 0), the voltage responses only to the iR drop due to phys- Time (s)
ical resistance; when the current is provided (0 ? I), the voltage re-
sponse also includes some capacitance contribution. At a short Fig. 2. Voltage time response of a 350F supercapacitor. (a) The supercapacitor was
time t = 10 ms, the capacitance contribution is small; however first charged or discharged at 20C (I1 = 4.86 A) and 50C (I1 = 12.15 A) for 2 s,
followed by current interruption to I2 = 0 A, and rested for 30 s. (b) The superca-
even at 2 s, voltage change due to capacitance is large (2.8 times pacitor was rested for 2 s (I1 = 0 A), then a charge or discharge current pulse of 20C
the iR drop). If the ac resistance of 1.3 mX measured at 1 kHz is (I2 = 4.86 A) and 50C (I2 = 12.15 A) was supplied for 30 s. Data acquisition was taken
considered to be a dc value obtained at 1 ms, the Rs of 1.7 mX or at 10 ms interval.
 S. Zhao et al. / Electrochemistry Communications 12 (2010) 242–245
2.2 mX measured at 10 ms is still much larger than the ac value. As
stated previously, the resistances from the current interruption
I ? 0 tests are the most reliable measurement of dc resistance
for supercapacitors.
4. Conclusion
Internal resistances of an 8.5 Ah Li-ion battery and a 350 F sup-
ercapacitor were measured. Based on the test results, the current
interruption approach is recommended for determining the resis-
tance of batteries and supercapacitors. The resistances of both
types of devices are time dependent due to physical and electro-
chemical processes occurring in the electrodes. For the battery
using the current interruption method, Rs = DV/DI where DV
should be taken at 10 ms if the Ohmic resistance is needed and
at 2 s if the resistance including Ohmic and limited electrochemical
processes are appropriate for the application of interest. For the
supercapacitor, it is recommended that the voltage time be some-
what less than 10 ms, possibly 1 ms when the test equipment is
capable, following the current interruption I ? 0. It is difficult to
utilize the 0 ? I pulse method to determine the resistance without
245
carefully accounting for the capacitance response of the device. For
that reason, the current interruption method is particularly recom-
mended for supercapacitors. The ac resistance at 1 kHz can be a
good parallel reference for dc resistance measurement at 1 ms time
frame.
References
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[4] A.J. Bard, L.R. Faulkner, Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and
Applications, second ed., Wiley, 2000.
[5] B.E. Conway, Electrochemical Supercapacitors: Scientific Principles and
Technological Application, Plenum, New York, NY, 1999.
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