Supercapacitor Materials and Applications Review

Supercapacitor is becoming a promising new energy storage device with multiple advantages, such as high power density, fast charge-discharge rate, long lifespan, and good cyclability. There are three types of supercapacitor: electric double layer capacitor (EDLC), electrochemical pseudocapacitor, and a hybrid of EDLC and pseudocapacitor. The electrode is a key component that plays an important role in determining the performance of the supercapacitor. This review has discussed fi ve popular electrode materials: carbon-based materials, manganese-oxide (MnOx) material, nickel disulfi de (NiS2) hollow nanoprisms material, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) aerogels material, and cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanotube material. Also, three main applications of the supercapacitor have also been discussed: renewable energy generation, mobile devices, and electric vehicles. Although the limitations of the current materials are preventing the supercapacitor from achieving a comparable energy density to the battery, the advancing of the material technology will allow it to have a higher capacitance in the future. With higher capacitance, the application of the supercapacitor could be even broadened as well