Ecological Assessment of Nano Materials for the Production of Electrostatic/Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems

Electrochemical double layer capacitors, also known as supercapacitors are considered as a promising option for stationary or mobile electric energy storage. At present lithium ion and nickel metal hydride batteries are used for automotive applications. In comparison to this type of batteries supercapacitors possess a high specific power, but a relatively low specific energy. Therefore, the goal of ongoing research is to develop a new generation of supercapacitors with high specific power and high specific energy. To reach this development goal particularly nano materials are under investigation on cell level. In the presented study the ecological implications (regarding known environmental effects) of carbon based nano materials are analysed using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Major attention is paid to efficiency gains of nano material production due to scaling up of such processes from laboratory to industrial production scales. Furthermore, a developed approach will be displayed, how to assess the environmental impact of nano materials on an automotive system level over the whole life cycle