Self-discharge of a hybrid supercapacitor with incorporated galvanic cell components

Y. Wang, X. Qiao, C. Zhang and Xiangyang Zhou

Energy, 2018, vol. 159, issue C, 1035-1045

Abstract: Supercapacitors can provide a high specific power and long cycle life but suffer a significant self-discharge limiting their application as a stand-alone energy storage device. A new hybrid supercapacitor with incorporated galvanic cell components was proposed to mitigate the self-discharge problem. The hybrid supercapacitor was similar to a conventional supercapacitor with two active carbon electrodes separated by a polymer electrolyte membrane containing 1.5 M zinc sulfate. However, a zinc foil and a copper foil were used as the current collectors for the negative and the positive electrodes respectively, which can provide a micro-current to compensate the self-discharge current. The hybrid supercapacitor exhibited a maximum specific capacitance of 55 F g− 1 and specific energy of 4.51 Wh kg−1 with a charge efficiency of 90%. The capacitance retention of the hybrid supercapacitor was 80% after 2000 cycles. The open circuit voltage of the charged hybrid supercapacitor was stable and declined slightly from initial 0.90 V–0.85 V in a month. The results demonstrate that via replacement of a pair of conventional metal current collectors with a galvanic couple the ubiquitous self-discharge problem can be significantly mitigated and the storage time can be prolonged to meet the requirement for stand-alone applications.

Keywords: Hybrid supercapacitor; Galvanic cell; Self-discharge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:159:y:2018:i:c:p:1035-1045

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.06.170

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