Supercapacitors, also known as electrochemical capacitors, are a new type of energy storage device between traditional physical capacitors and batteries. At the same time, it has the advantages of high power density of traditional physical capacitors and high energy density of batteries. It has relatively mature experience in the main raw materials and production processes. The future development trend of technology includes the following aspects:
(1) The specific surface area, conductivity, chemical and electrochemical stability, particle size distribution, impurity content and other indicators of carbon electrode materials determine the final performance of supercapacitor products to a large extent, including power density, energy density, product life, etc. Therefore, the carbon electrode material is one of the core materials in supercapacitors. In recent years, supercapacitor companies are actively exploring applications in the fields of electric energy storage and electric vehicles, and the development of electrode materials with high specific energy and/or high power is the key to product development.
(2) An electrolyte with high withstand voltage, low resistance, and high electrolyte ion concentration is the key to improving the performance of supercapacitor products. At present, the production technology of water-based and organic-based electrolytes are mature and widely used, but the supercapacitor products of water-based electrolytes have poor low-temperature performance and low energy density; organic electrolytes can enable supercapacitor products to obtain higher energy density and a wide operating temperature range, but they have large internal resistance, high cost, and demanding requirements for assembly processes. At present, the development of solid electrolyte and gel electrolyte is one of the development trends of supercapacitors.
(3) The performance of the diaphragm also determines the performance of the capacitor to a certain extent. A good diaphragm material should first be electronically insulated and ionically conductive, that is, allow charged ions to pass through, but prevent electrons from passing through, and prevent the positive and negative electrodes from contacting and short-circuiting; secondly, the resistance should be as small as possible, so that the ability of ions to pass through the diaphragm is strong, that is, the resistance of the diaphragm to the movement of electrolyte ions is small. Therefore, the development of new materials to improve the performance of the diaphragm is also the future development direction of supercapacitors.
In addition to technical research and development, the production technology and process control of supercapacitors will affect the performance of a single product, and also affect the batch consistency of the product, which in turn affects the life of the group of products. With the development of the supercapacitor industry, the supply of raw materials such as electrodes and electrolytes has gradually formed standards and systems. As a non-technical issue, product management will also occupy a place in the future development trend.
