Supercapacitors (aka Ultracapacitors) have gained significant traction due to advanced materials science. Innovations like integrating nanomaterials such as graphene and lithium-ion doping improved performance metrics. The hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) is an innovation that combines lithiumion technology with electric doublelayer capacitor (EDLC) construction. This hybrid approach results in improved operation over battery solutions, such as lithium-ion, VRLA, sodium, and zinc-based systems. Delivering safe, reliable energy storage, HSCs are garnering adoption but with limitations.
Hybrid Supercapacitor Evolved From ELDC
The effort to increase cell voltage led to doping the negative electrode with lithium ions. This refined process optimizes the balance between the electrodes and the Lithium ions. HSC technology represents a new approach to energy storage, integrating high power of supercapacitors with high energy typically found in batteries. The key innovation lies in the hybrid design, using activated carbon for the positive electrode and carbon material for the negative electrode (Figure 1). By pre-doping with lithium ions this achieves high output and energy densities without the shortcomings of EDLCs and lithiumion technology.
