Advances in solid polymer electrochemical capacitors for high rate applications

All solid electrochemical capacitors (EC) have been demonstrated using proton conducting silicotungstic acid (SiWA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based polymer electrolytes. Graphite electrodes were utilized for electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLC), while RuO2 electrodes were employed as pseudocapacitive electrodes. Both solid EDLC and pseudocapacitors exhibited very high charge/discharge rate capability. Especially for solid EDLC, a charge/discharge rate of 25 V/s and a 10 ms time constant ("factor of merit") were obtained. The rate capability of the solid EC is attributable to thin film thickness, good proton conductivity of the polymer electrolyte, and intimate contact between electrode and electrolyte. These results demonstrate promise of polymer electrolytes as enablers of high rate and high performance solid EC devices.