Application of Porous Carbon Material As Electrode Material of Polyvalent Cation Electric Double Layer Capacitor (EDLC) for High Capacity
Electric double layer capacitors (EDLC) are charged and discharged by the physical adsorption and desorption of electrolyte ions on the electrode surface. EDLC has the advantages of high-speed charge and discharge and long life. EDLC is used in memory backup power supplies such as personal computers and energy regenerative systems for power regenerative brakes in hybrid vehicles. In recent years, demand for applications such as in-vehicle power supplies has increased. Therefore, high energy density is required. The energy density increases by increasing the electrostatic capacity and the potential. In the conventional adsorption and desorption of monovalent cations, only one electron can be exchanged for each cation. In adsorption and desorption, two electrons can be exchanged for each cation. Therefore, it was considered that the capacitance can be increased by using an electrolyte of divalent cations.In this study, Ca2+ was used as the divalent cation. As an organic electrolyte, propylene carbonate (PC) and γ-butyrolactone (GBL), which are commonly used in EDLC research as a solvent and can dissolve the electrolyte used. In addition, the dependence of the specific surface area and pore characteristics of the electrode material on the capacity was examined. Activated carbon and carbon gel were used as electrode materials. The capacitance of Ca2+ electrolyte increased when GBL was used as the solvent. Capacitance increased depending on the specific surface area of electrode materials.