High Power Carbon Ultracapacitor

Ultracapacitors are extremely useful for peak and pulse powering scenarios where batteries may not be the most efficient.  When ultracapacitors are combined with batteries, the performance of the power system may be dramatically increased.  The power density of an ultracapacitor is therefore of critical concern for aerospace applications.  However, most commercial ultracapacitors are focused on maximizing energy density to compete with batteries, rather than complement batteries.  This project will develop reliable ultracapacitors that can achieve a power density that is ~2X greater than leading commercial products.  Prismatic soft packaging with electrodes containing nanostructured carbon composites of 3 carbon allotropes will be combined to generate the best combination of performance, processability, and reliability.  Phase I will optimize the electrode materials and test manually assembled cells.  Phase II will improve the manufacturing methods to bring the technology from the lab to field tests. BENEFIT: These ultracapacitors will be beneficial to numerous electrically powered systems, particularly in electric vehicles, electric power tools, and numerous larger scale systems.  The technology being developed in this project strikes a nice balance between novelty and practicality, which will result in devices ready to enter the market in a reasonable time frame.  The use of a combination of carbon materials rather than pure carbon nanotubes or expensive metal oxides will make the technology cost effective, which is one of the primary issues preventing widespread adoption of ultracapacitors.