This week a couple of interesting papers on supercapacitors were published.
The first paper by Chanut et al.1, reports development of carbon-cement supercapacitors. These supercapacitors are constructed from readily available materials that can be sourced locally anywhere in the world - cement, water, and carbon black. It does not provide a values for energy/power densities so can’t really comment on comparison with other materials. A 2019 paper by Lu et al.2 uses hypercrosslinked polymer base to produce supercapacitors and reports high energy/ power densities.
The second paper by Xuan et al.3 presents similar energy and power density to Lu et al.2. It uses garlic peal to create porous carbon superconductors. Highlight of this study is use of hydrodynamic cavitation to produce very large specific surface area (3272 m2/g).
These papers mark significant steps in the development of new materials that can potentially revolutionize our energy storage systems.
For context, supercapacitors typically have an energy density in the range of 1 to 10 Wh/kg (Watt-hours per kilogram). Power density typically ranges from 1 to 10 kW/kg (kilowatts per kilogram).
The energy and power densities for batteries are:
Energy density:
– Alkaline batteries: 100-200 Wh/kg
– Lead-acid batteries: 30-50 Wh/kg
– Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries: 60-120 Wh/kg
– Lithium-ion batteries: 150-250 Wh/kg, with some advanced designs exceeding 300 Wh/kg.
Power density:
– Lead-acid batteries: 180-900 W/kg
– Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries: 250-1,000 W/kg
– Lithium-ion batteries: 250-3400 W/kg
References
Citation
@online{utikar2023,
author = {Utikar, Ranjeet},
title = {New Supercapacitor Materials},
date = {2023-08-02},
url = {https://smilelab.dev//blog/posts/2023-08-02-new-supercapacitor-materials},
langid = {en}
}