Carbon surface modification for three-volt ultracapacitor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9679703-B2
Application number	US-201314047818-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2013
Priority date	Oct 8, 2012
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

An electric double-layer ultracapacitor configured to maintain desired operation at an operating voltage of three volts, where the capacitor includes a housing component, a first and a second current collector, a positive and a negative electrode electrically coupled to one of the first and second current collectors, and a separator positioned between the positive and the negative electrode. At least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode can include a treated carbon material, where the treated carbon material includes a reduction in a number of hydrogen-containing functional groups, nitrogen-containing functional groups and/or oxygen-containing functional groups.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultracapacitor, comprising:
a first current collector and a second current collector;
a positive electrode electrically coupled to the first current collector;
a negative electrode electrically coupled to the second current collector, wherein at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode comprises a treated carbon material having about 10% to about 60% reduction in at least one functional group on a surface of the treated carbon material in comparison to an untreated carbon material;
a separator positioned between the positive electrode and the negative electrode;
an electrolyte in ionic contact with the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and
a housing component to retain the positive electrode, the negative electrode, the separator and the electrolyte, wherein the ultracapacitor is configured to operate at 3 volts or greater at 65° C. and maintain greater than 80% of its initial capacitance for over 1500 hours.

2. The ultracapacitor of claim 1 , wherein the at least one functional group is a hydrogen-containing functional group, a nitrogen-containing functional group, or an oxygen-containing functional group.

3. The ultracapacitor of claim 2 , wherein the treated carbon material comprises functional groups less than about 1% of which contains hydrogen.

4. The ultracapacitor of claim 2 , wherein the treated carbon material comprises functional groups less than about 0.5% of which contains nitrogen.

5. The ultracapacitor of claim 2 , wherein the treated carbon material comprises functional groups less than about 5% of which contains oxygen.

6. The ultracapacitor of claim 2 , wherein the treated carbon material comprises about 30% fewer hydrogen-containing functional groups than an untreated carbon material.

7. The ultracapacitor of claim 1 , wherein the ultracapacitor is configured to operate at 65° C. with a cycle life of greater than 500 k cycles.

8. An ultracapacitor, comprising:
a first current collector and a second current collector;
a positive electrode electrically coupled to the first current collector;
a negative electrode electrically coupled to the second current collector, wherein at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode comprises a treated carbon material having about 10% to about 60% reduction in at least one functional group on a surface of the treated carbon material in comparison to an untreated carbon material;
a separator positioned between the positive electrode and the negative electrode;
an electrolyte in ionic contact with the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and
a housing component to retain the positive electrode, the negative electrode, the separator and the electrolyte, wherein the ultracapacitor is configured to operate at 3 volts or greater at 65° C. and maintain less than 200% of its initial equivalent series resistance for over 1500 hours.

9. An ultracapacitor, comprising:
a first current collector and a second current collector;
a positive electrode electrically coupled to the first current collector;
a negative electrode electrically coupled to the second current collector,
wherein at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode comprises a treated carbon material having at least one functional group on a surface of the treated carbon material less than about 1% of which contains hydrogen, less than 0.5% of which contains nitrogen, or less than about 5% of which contains oxygen;
a separator positioned between the positive electrode and the negative electrode;
an electrolyte in ionic contact with the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and
a housing component to retain the positive electrode, the negative electrode, the separator and the electrolyte and wherein the ultracapacitor is capable of operating at 3 volts at a temperature of 65° C. or greater while maintaining less than 200% of its initial equivalent series resistance for over 1500 hours.

10. The ultracapacitor of claim 9 , wherein the ultracapacitor is capable of operating at 65° C. with a cycle life of greater than 500 k cycles.

11. The ultracapacitor of claim 1 , wherein the ultracapacitor is capable of operating at 3 volts at a temperature of 65° C. or greater while maintaining less than 200% of its initial equivalent series resistance for over 1500 hours.

12. The ultracapacitor of claim 1 , wherein the treated carbon material comprises functional groups less than about 1% of which contains hydrogen, less than 0.5% of which contains nitrogen, or less than about 5% of which contains oxygen.

13. The ultracapacitor of claim 8 , wherein the treated carbon material comprises functional groups less than about 1% of which contains hydrogen, less than 0.5% of which contains nitrogen, or less than about 5% of which contains oxygen.

14. The ultracapacitor of claim 8 , wherein the ultracapacitor is capable of operating at 65° C. with a cycle life of greater than 500 k cycles.

15. The ultracapacitor of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the positive electrode and the negative electrode comprises a treated carbon material having a number of functional groups on a surface of the treated carbon material less than about 1% of which contains hydrogen, less than 0.5% of which contains nitrogen, or less than about 5% of which contains oxygen.

16. The ultracapacitor of claim 1 , wherein the positive electrode comprises a first thickness and the negative electrode comprises a second thickness, wherein the first thickness of the positive electrode is greater than the second thickness of the negative electrode.

17. The ultracapacitor of claim 16 , wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness by 10%.

18. The ultracapacitor of claim 8 , wherein the positive electrode comprises a first thickness and the negative electrode comprises a second thickness, wherein the first thickness of the positive electrode is greater than the second thickness of the negative electrode.

19. The ultracapacitor of claim 18 , wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness by 10%.

20. The ultracapacitor of claim 9 , wherein the positive electrode comprises a first thickness and the negative electrode comprises a second thickness, wherein the first thickness of the positive electrode is greater than the second thickness of the negative electrode.

21. The ultracapacitor of claim 20 , wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness by 10%.

Assignees

• Maxwell Lab

Inventors

• Bendale Priya
• Crawford Robert
• Mitchell Porter
• Nelson Jeffrey
• Schafer Doug
• Xi Xiaomei

Classifications

• H01G11/60

  characterised by the solvent · CPC title

• H01G11/58

  Liquid electrolytes · CPC title

• H01G11/54

  Electrolytes · CPC title

• H01G11/24

  characterised by structural features of the materials making up or comprised in the electrodes, e.g. form, surface area or porosity; characterised by the structural features of powders or particles used therefor · CPC title

• H01G11/34

  characterised by carbonisation or activation of carbon · CPC title