Novel Paradigm Supercapacitors V: Significance of organic polar solvents and salt identities

This thesis is part of an ongoing program exploring the means to improve the performance, particularly energy and power density, of super dielectric materials (SDM)--based Novel Paradigm (NP) Supercapacitors. The underlying hypothesis is that replacing aqueous solutions with higher-voltage breakdown organic polar solvents (OPS) can increase energy density. Combinations of three different OPS and four salts were studied, as well as mixtures of OPS and aqueous solvents and organic salts. The NP Supercapacitors were tested for capacitor performance as a function of frequency. The effectiveness of the OPS solutions was determined by evaluating the energy density, power density, capacitance and dielectric constant as a function of time. The three OPS evaluated in this study successfully attained operating voltages in the range of 3.0--5.0 volts. These results are significantly higher than realized in previous studies, which maxed out at 2.3 volts. However, the higher voltages did not result in higher energy and power densities, as the best results attained were in the range of 90-155 J/cmᵌ and 700–950 W/cmᵌ, respectively. These results are significantly lower than realized in previous studies by our team but still higher than the results presented in the general literature for all capacitor types, with the exception of a few prototype graphene-based supercapacitors.http://archive.org/details/novelparadigmsup1094555530Outstanding ThesisCommander, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited