The influences of operating conditions and design configurations on the performance of symmetric electrochemical capacitors

The influence of different charging current densities, charging times and several structural designs on symmetric electrochemical capacitor (EC) performance, including capacitance, energy density and power density, has been investigated via modelling and simulation. Understanding the effects of different operating conditions and structural design variables on a capacitor's performance will guide in the optimal design and fabrication of high performance ECs. The operating conditions and design configurations examined were charging current density, charging times, electrode and electrolyte effective conductivity, electrode thickness and electrode porosity. The results reveal that ECs with low electrode and electrolyte effective conductivities can only be effectively charged at low current density for long times. ECs with a high concentration of impurity ions or redox species exhibit high self-discharge rates, and fast charging of the ECs greatly reduces the self-discharge rate, compared to slow charging, provided that the effective conductivities of the electrode and electrolyte are high enough. The simulation showed the typical electrode length scale over which the liquid potential drop occurs and electrode utilization can be employed as a design parameter to optimize electrode thickness (effective thickness) for ECs designed to operate under a specific current density range. The expression for electrode utilization (u) and the guidelines that can also be used to determine optimum electrode thickness/effective thickness (100% electrode utilization), optimum charging time and optimum current density in a cell of a given voltage and effective conductivity of electrode and electrolyte, were derived. The energy and power density of ECs were increased when the electrode thickness was reduced in the given charging conditions. The Ragone plots can be used to select optimum electrode dimensions to attain given energy and power density specifications.