Super capacitor also known as electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC), super condenser, pseudo capacitor, electrochemical double layer capacitor, or ultracapacitors, is an electrochemical capacitor with relatively high energy density. Compared to conventional electrolytic capacitors the energy density is typically on the order of hundreds of times greater. In comparison with conventional batteries or fuel cells, EDLCs also have a much higher power density.
In this article the use of super capacitors likes hybrid power supply for various applications is presented. The main application is in the field of automation. The specific Power of the super capacitors and its high lifetime (1 million of Cycles) makes it very attractive for the startup of the automobiles. Unfortunately, the specific energy of this component is very low. For that this technology is associated with battery to supply the starter alternator.
This paper offers a concise review on the use of a super capacitor in various energy storage applications. Super capacitor is also known as Electric/electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC) is a unique electrical storage device, which can store much more energy than conventional capacitors and offer much higher power density than batteries.
Electric double-layer capacitor would have a capacitance of several farads, an improvement of about two or three orders of magnitude in capacitance, but usually at a lower working voltage. Larger, commercial electric double layer capacitors have capacities as high as 5,000 farads. These particularities make them very attractive for some applications as vehicle, electric grid, UPS, etc. So, this component can used with battery to supply the high power needed for the vehicle starting-up and acceleration, what can reduce the maximum power given by the battery and improves the lifetime of this last one.
These super capacitors fill up the gap between the batteries and the conventional capacitor, allowing applications for various power and energy requirements i.e., back up power sources for electronic devices, engine start or acceleration for hybrid vehicles.
This paper deals with the the construction and working of super capacitors and its application in various electronics energy storage applications and hybrid power supply for the vehicles. For that the battery is used us energy tank and supercapacitors to ensure the phases which need high power (startup, acceleration etc.).
Super capacitors also known as Electric double-layer capacitors, or electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs), or ultracapacitors, are electrochemical capacitors that have an unusually high energy density when compared to common capacitors, typically on the order of thousands of times greater than a high capacity electrolytic capacitor. For instance, a typical electrolytic capacitor will have a capacitance in the range of tens of millifarads. The same size super capacitor would have a capacitance of several farads, an improvement of about two or three orders of magnitude in capacitance but usually at a lower working voltage. Larger, commercial electric doublelayer capacitors have capacities as high as 5,000farads.
In a conventional capacitor, energy is stored by the removal of charge carriers, typically electrons, from one metal plate depositing them on another. This charge separation creates a potential between the two plates, which can be harnessed in an external circuit. The total energy stored in this fashion increases with both the amount of charge stored and the Potential between the plates. The amount of charge stored per unit voltage is essentially a function of the size, the distance, and the material properties of the plates and the material in between the plates (the dielectric), while the potential between the plates is limited by breakdown of the dielectric. The dielectric controls the capacitor's voltage. Optimizing the material leads to higher energy density for a given size of capacitor.
EDLCs do not have a conventional dielectric. Rather than two separate plates separated by an intervening substance, these capacitors use "plates" that are in fact two layers of the same substrate, and their electrical properties, the so-called "electrical double layer", result in the effective separation of charge despite the vanishingly thin (on the order of nanometers) physical separation of the layers. The lack of need for a bulky layer of dielectric permits the packing of plates with much larger surface area into a given size, resulting in high capacitances in practical-sized packages.
Super capacitor technology is based the electric double layer phenomenon that has been understood for over a hundred years. However, it has only been exploited by commercial applications for about ten years. As in a conventional capacitor, in an ultracapacitor two conductors and a dielectric generate an electric field where energy is stored. The double layer is created at a solid electrode-solution interface - it is, then, essentially a charge separation that occurs at the interface between the solid and the electrolyte. Two charge layers are formed, with an excess of electrons on one side and an excess of positive ions on the other side. The polar molecules that reside in between form the dielectric. In most ultracapacitors, the electrode is carbon combined with an electrolyte. The layers that form the capacitor plate's boundaries, as well as the small space between them, create a very high capacitance. In addition, the structure of the carbon electrode, which is typically porous, increases the effective surface area to about 2000 m2/g
In general, electric double-layer capacitors improve storage density through the use of a nanoporous material, typically activated charcoal, in place of the conventional insulating barrier. Activated charcoal is a powder made up of extremely small and very "rough" particles, which in bulk form a low-density volume of particles with holes between them that resembles a sponge. The overall surface area of even a thin layer of such a material is many times greater than a traditional material like aluminum, allowing many more charge carriers (ions or radicals from the electrolyte) to be stored in any given volume. The downside is that the charcoal is taking the place of the improved insulators used in conventional devices, so in general electric double-layer capacitors use low potentials on the order of 2 to 3 V.
Super capacitor is a double layer capacitor; the energy is stored by charge transfer at the boundary between electrode and electrolyte. The amount of stored energy is function of the available electrode and electrolyte surface, the size of the ions, and the level of the electrolyte decomposition voltage.
Super capacitors are constituted of two electrodes, a separator and an electrolyte. The two electrodes, made of activated carbon provide a high surface area part, defining so energy density of the component. On the electrodes, current collectors with a high conducting part assure the interface between the electrodes and the connections of the supercapacitor. The two electrodes are separated by a membrane, which allows the mobility of charged ions and forbids no electronic contact. The electrolyte supplies and conducts the ions from one electrode to the other.
Usually super capacitors are divided into two types: double-layer capacitors and electrochemical capacitors. The former depends on the mechanism of double layers, which is result of the separation of charges at interface between the electrode surface of active carbon or carbon fiber and electrolytic solution. Its capacitance is proportional to the specific surface areas of electrode material. The latter depends on fast faraday redox reaction. The electrochemical capacitors include metal oxide supercapacitors and conductive polymer supercapacitors. They all make use of the high reversible redox reaction occurring on electrodes surface or inside them to produce the capacitance concerning with electrode potential. Capacitance of them depends mainly on the utilization of active material of electrode.
When metal oxides/ metal oxide and carbon composite/conducting polymer and carbon composite are used as electrodes for the construction of EDLCs, the charge storage mechanism includes both double layer capacitance and pseudo capacitance which result in higher capacitance output and the EDLCs are termed as supercapacitors (SCs). One major disadvantage of carbon based EDLC is the lower specific stored energy.