Supercapacitors - Discussion

There is increasing interest in energy sources that are optimized to provide electrical energy at high power levels for short times. Applications include the very short pulses used in digital electronic devices, the longer power pulse demands of heart defibrillators and other implantable medical devices, and the much larger transient power requirements for electric vehicle traction. The various mechanisms that can be used to provide pulsed energy in electrochemical systems, as well as their fundamental characteristics and applicability to the different types of pulse output requirements, are discussed. The most favourable materials operate by means of topotactic insertion reactions. Four different electrochemical methods can be used to evaluate their critical parameters.