High-voltage electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs) capable of efficient AC line-filtering have been developed. They were fabricated with vertically-oriented graphene nanosheet (VOGN) electrodes using a planar design. Two approaches were examined to series connect EDLC cells and thus achieve high-voltage operation. Electrical performance of VOGN electric double layer capacitors fabricated with an ionic liquid electrolyte was measured at temperatures up to 125 ⢠C. Volume comparisons are made between VOGN electric double layer capacitors and aluminum electrolytic capacitors. A practical design is presented that provides the VOGN electric double layer capacitor with more than an order-of-magnitude higher ripple-current filtering performance Efficient AC line-filtering (120 Hz) by an electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) was first demonstrated in 2010 using electrodes of vertically-oriented graphene (VOGN) grown directly on nickel.1 This electrode material and its structure ( Figure 1) reduce series resistance to an absolute minimum value and effectively eliminate distributed charge storage, i.e. porous electrode behavior with its corresponding transmission-line-like electrical response. In brief, EDLC electrodes are made by growing the VOGN on bare nickel current collectors using radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of CH 4 /H 2 or C 2 H 2 /H 2 feed gases.2,3 Growth temperature is typically in the 550 to 850⢠C range. No catalytic seed material is required or added to the nickel surface. Growth proceeds by Volmer-Weber island impingement, 4 which yields an upturned structure at carbon island boundaries. There is significant carbon dissolution into the nickel during growth that helps ensure low-resistance ohmic connection between the high-conductivity graphene sheets and the metal current collector. Typical characteristic VOGN spacing is âź200 nm and heights âź1 Îźm, a void length-to-width ratio that thwarts porous electrode behavior as found with activated-carbon.
5Generally the Raman D band to G band intensity ratio decreases with growth time indicating that crystalline order of the VOGN increases with nanosheet height, which increases approximately linearly with time at growth rates of 70 nm/minute using CH 4 and 190 nm/minute using C 2 H 2 .6 Electrode capacitance at 120 Hz typically is in the 200 to 300 ÎźF/cm 2 range, depending on VOGN growth conditions and growth time. The frequency response reported for EDLCs made using other external-surface-area nanomaterials is generally below that demonstrated by VOGN grown on nickel because of higher series resistance and/or distributed charge storage behavior.
7-12State of the art commercial EDLCs, which use internal-surface-area activated carbon electrode materials, typically have a -45⢠phase angle at âź0.2 Hz and show inductive behavior (positive phase angle) at 120 Hz, rendering them totally useless for AC line filtering.
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EDLC DesignsA conventional EDLC "sandwich" design, as depicted in Figure 2, is poorly suited for capacitors made using V...