Nanocarbons in Supercapacitor Electrodes - An approach to foster nanotechnology in electric power trains

To compete with conventional vehicles on the market, electric vehicles require high-performance rechargeable energy storage systems ideally equipped with high energy and power density, cost-efficiency, long lifetimes, extraordinary reliability and safety as well as minimal environmental impact. The last decades have triggered an increasing interest in capacitive energy storage, an electrical storage mechanism found in electrochemical capacitors (ECs), which allows ultrafast charging and discharging. Research driven improvements in efficiency and reduction of costs led to the use of ECs in electric vehicles, but exploiting nanocarbons for EC electrodes is still an essential field of research around the globe. The presentation provides a short overview of Fraunhofer IPAs activities in EC development focusing on new materials and manufacturing techniques for EC electrodes. Points addressed in current research projects are pore size distribution, size of electrolyte ions, wettability of the material surface structure for optimized pore fillings and the accessibility of the micro- and nano-pores, respectively. Increasing the di-electric strength of the electrolytes and raising the conductivity of the electrode nanostructure also has a strong leverage effect on energy and power density. It is very important to adjust the elements of electrochemical capacitors to each other in order to achieve the best performance.