Electrolytic Ultracapacitors Based on Single-Wall Nanotubes

Foster-Miller proposes to exploit exciting properties of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to develop electrolytic ultracapacitors having a 300 percent performance improvement over current versions. We will utilize SWNTs processed as cohesive, highlydispersed felts to replace conventional carbon black electrodes. SWNTs possess a remarkable structure that gives them a distinctive combination of electrical, physical and mechanical properties; enabling SWNT electrodes to have higher surface area,electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity. In addition, SWNT electrodes require no polymer binder, thus further enhancing their energy storage capability.Ultracapacitors have been demonstrated as a superb electrical power buffer for several demanding applications; however, their success in high power output applications is limited by their smaller energy storage density compared to batteries.Ultracapacitor applications would be vastly expanded by the 300 percent increase in energy and power delivery capabilities that SWNT electrodes would provide.With partners Maxwell Technologies and Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc, the Foster-Miller team is poised to take this product from the development stage through scale-up to manufacture. In this Phase I program Foster-Miller will make and characterize highlydispersed SWNT electrodes, utilizing processing techniques under development at Foster-Miller and CNI, incorporate them into ultracapacitor test cells, and characterize their performance. (P-020563) Ultracapacitors utilizing novel electrode structures based on carbon nanotube technology have the potential to increase the energy storage density of ultracpacitors by three times. This will make ultracapacitors the best devices to efficiently deliverpower for kinetic and directed energy weapons and provide the increase in performance required to make ultracapacitors the ideal power caches for electric vehicles.