Publications Details

Discharge rates of porous carbon double layer capacitors

Eisenmann, E.T.

Double layer capacitors with porous carbon electrodes have very low frequency response limits and correspondingly low charge-discharge rates. Impedance measurements of various commercial double layer capacitors and of carbon electrodes prepared from selected precursor materials were found to yield similar, yet subtly different characteristics. Through modeling with the traditional transmission line equivalent circuit for porous electrodes, a resistive layer can be identified, which forms on carbon films during carbonization and survives the activation procedure. A method for determining the power-to-energy ratio of electrochemical capacitors has been developed. These findings help define new ways for optimizing the properties of double layer capacitors.