The hybrid supercapacitor is the latest breakthrough in battery technology. Some news outlets hail it as the new frontier to battery technology while another use the turtle and hare analogy to refer to the capacity of the existing lithium-ion battery to this new hybrid battery.
The hybrid supercapacitor is the merging of the best features of lithium-ion battery to store energy and the supercapacitors ability to deliver power.
How it works
Rather than using lithium only, it uses activated carbon as a primary material. “The hybrid supercapacitors sit halfway between a regular carbon-based supercapacitor and lithium battery cell. It has one activated carbon electrode, and the other is based on a lithium compound but compared with lithium-ion, it does not have active lithium and no chemical reaction. The charges are stored statically like a supercapacitor.”
The result is a hybrid battery that can store as much energy as lithium batteries but deliver power as supercapacitors would do. Because it uses activated carbon, it solves the problem of relying too much on lithium and rare materials.
There are also so many advantages to hybrid supercapacitor and these are some of them:
- It is energy-dense, equal to commercial lithium batteries with a higher charge and discharge rate, which means it can deliver more and sustained power with no threats of an explosion.
- It does not need a complex battery management system, no thermal management, simpler to use, and more reliable.
- It can work from freezing temperature (-50C) up to high temperatures (45C)
- Resilient even if a cell fails, it will keep on working, and the battery can last up to 10 years or more.
These outstanding qualities of hybrid batteries is a game-changer for many battery-based applications, including electric vehicles – it will give it more range and power.
Continuous improvements in battery storage and delivery are important to the expansion of and transition to renewable energy and reduction on the use of fossil fuel. It will increase more solar and wind integration into power systems and grid, and firm up renewable energy output.
A new study on supercapacitor explains new findings that make it exceptionally safe and sustainable to use.
Click on the link below to read the study:
Source Citation:
Blain, L. (2020, March 9). High-density hybrid power capacitors: A new frontier in the energy race. New Atlas. Retrieved from https://newatlas.com/energy/toomen-powercapacitors-kurt-energy-high-density-supercapacitors/
Williams, A. (2020, March 14). Hybrid Supercapacitors Are-well-super. Hackaday. Retrieved from https://hackaday.com/2020/03/14/hybrid-supercapacitors-are-well-super/
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