CONTENTS

 Introduction.
 Attractive Features.
 Advantages to conventional Energy Storing Devices.
Inside a Super capacitor/Ultra capacitor.
Working.
Drawbacks.
 INTRODUCTION
The supercapacitor is also known as an ultracapacitor or
Double-layered capacitor.
 This capacitor is called an ultracapacitor since it has a higher
capacitance value than other regular capacitors (ranges up to
5000F)
 The capacitors have low voltage limits.
These components are the choice over the regular type of
capacitors since they feature higher power density.
These components consume less power and are absolutely safe
and easy to operate.
 ATTRACTIVE FEATURES
Capacitance ranges to 5000 F.
 No chemical reaction involved.
 Much more effective at rapid, regenerative energy storage
than chemical batteries .
Works even at low temperatures -40 degrees Celsius.
Ultra capacitors can store 5 percent as much energy as a
modern lithium-ion battery.
 Can effectively fulfil the requirement of High current pulses
that can kill a battery if used instead.
ADVANTAGES TO CONVENTIONAL
ENERGY STORING DEVICES
 Batteries:
Degrade within a few thousand charge-discharge cycles.
Ulracapacitors can have more than 300 000 charging cycles,
which is far more than a battery can handle.
 Ultra capacitor charges within seconds whereas batteries
takes hrs.
Because no chemical reaction is involved, ultra capacitors--
also known as super capacitors and double-layer
capacitors--are much more effective at rapid, regenerative
energy storage than chemical batteries are.
Batteries fail where high charging discharging takes place
whereas ultra capacitor fares extremely well.
Ordinary Capacitors:
Higher capacitance.
 Put two ordinary capacitors the size of a D-cell battery in
your flashlight, each charged to 1.5 volts, and the bulb will
go out in less than a second, if it lights at all. An ultra
capacitor of the same size, however, has a capacitance of
about 350 farads and could light the bulb for about 2
minutes.
 Ultra Capacitors are Expensive.
 INSIDE A SUPER CAPACITOR
 Two Electrodes coated with sponge like activated carbon.
Electrolyte :Contains free mobile ions .
Porous Separator-:Prevents electrodes from shorting out.
THE COMBINATION OF ENORMOUS
SURFACE AREA AND EXTREMELY
SMALL
 charge separation gives the ultra capacitor its outstanding
capacitance relative to conventional capacitors.
 CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES
Originally electrodes were made of aluminium.
Standard Oil engineers coated these aluminium with 100-
micrometer-thick layer of carbon.
The carbon was first chemically etched to produce many holes
that extended through the material, as in a sponge, so that the
interior surface area was about 100 000 times as large as the
outside. (This process is said to ”activate” the carbon.)
They filled the interior with an electrolyte and used a porous
insulator, one similar to paper, to keep the electrodes from
shorting out.
carbon is inert and does not react chemically with the ions
attached to it. Nor do the ions become oxidized or reduced, as
they do at the higher voltages used in an electrolytic cell.
 WORKING
When a voltage is applied, the ions are attracted to the
electrode with the opposite charge, where they cling
electrostatically to the pores in the carbon.
 At the low voltages used in ultra capacitors, carbon is inert
and does not react chemically with the ions attached to it. Nor
do the ions become oxidized or reduced, as they do at the
higher voltages used in an electrolytic cell.
 As the effective area where ions are stuck is much larger,
appreciably high value of capacitance is obtained.
 FEATURES
Such energy storage has several advantages relative to batteries
:
Very high rates of charge and discharge.
Little degradation over hundreds of thousands of cycles.
Good reversibility
Low toxicity of materials used.
High cycle efficiency (95% or more)
 DISADVANTAGES
The amount of energy stored per unit weight is considerably
lower than that of an electrochemical battery (3-5 W.h/kg for
an ultracapacitor compared to 30-40 W.h/kg for a battery). It is
also only about 1/10,000th the volumetric energy density of
gasoline.

The voltage varies with the energy stored. To effectively store

and recover energy requires sophisticated electronic control
and switching equipment.

Has the highest dielectric absorption of all types of capacitors.

Technology
Carbon nanotubes and certain conductive polymers, or carbon
aerogels, are practical for supercapacitors.
Carbon nanotubes have excellent nanoporosity properties,
allowing tiny spaces for the polymer to sit in the tube and act
as a dielectric.
Some polymers (eg. polyacenes) have a redox (reduction-
oxidation) storage mechanism along with a high surface area.
MIT's Laboratory of Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems
(LEES) is researching using carbon nanotubes [1].
Supercapacitors are also being made of carbon aerogel. Carbon
aerogel is a unique material providing extremely high surface
area of about 400-1000 m2/g. Small aerogel supercapacitors
are being used as backup batteries in microelectronics, but
applications for electric vehicles are expected.
The electrodes of aerogel supercapacitors are usually made of
non-woven paper made from carbon fibers and coated with
organic aerogel, which then undergoes pyrolysis. The paper is
a composite material where the carbon fibers provide structural
integrity and the aerogel provides the required large surface.

The capacitance of a single cell of an ultracapacitor can be as

high as 2.6 kF (see photo at the beginning).
 TYPES OF SUPERCAPACITORS
1. Electrostatic double-layer capacitors
2. Pseudo-capacitors
3. Hybrid capacitors
 ELECTROSTATIC DOUBLE LAYER
CAPACITORS
These types of capacitor include two electrodes, a separator,
and an electrolyte.
The electrolyte is the mixture that constitutes positive and
negative ions dissolved in water.
The two electrodes are separated by a separator.
 These supercapacitors use carbon electrodes or derivatives
with much higher electrostatic double-layer capacitance.
The separation of charge in electrostatic double-
layer capacitors is less than in a conventional capacitor; it
ranges from 0.3–0.8 nm
 PSEUDO CAPACITORS
Pseudo capacitors are also referred to as electrochemical
pseudo-capacitors.
These capacitors make use of metal oxide or conducting
polymer electrodes with a high amount of electrochemical
pseudo capacitance.
These types of components store electrical energy by electron
charge transfer between electrode and electrolyte.
 This can be done by a reduction-oxidation reaction commonly
known as a redox reaction.
 HYBRID CAPACITORS
The hybrid capacitors are developed by using the techniques of
double-layer capacitors and pseudo-capacitors.
 In these components, electrodes with different characteristics
are used.
One electrode with the capacity to display electrostatic
capacitance, and the other electrode with electrochemical
capacitance.
 SPECIFICATIONS OF
SUPERCAPACITOR
Supercapacitors have high capacitances up to 2 kF.
These capacitors store large amounts of energy.
Supercapacitors bridge the gap between conventional
capacitors and rechargeable batteries.
The charge time of a supercapacitor is 1–10 seconds.
These components can store electricity through either
electrostatic charge absorption/desorption.
 APPLICATIONS OF
SUPERCAPACITORS
Electric cars
Wind turbines
Photographic flash
Flywheel in machines
MP3 players
Regenerative braking in the automotive industry
Static memories (SRAM)
Industrial electrical motors