Energy storage device

Abstract

An energy storage device comprises a capacitor having a dielectric between opposite electrodes and a nonconductive coating between at least one electrode and the dielectric. The nonconductive coating allows for much higher voltages to be employed than in traditional EDLCs, which significantly increases energy stored in the capacitor. Viscosity of the dielectric material may be increased or decreased in a controlled manner, such as in response to an applied external stimulus, to control discharge and storage for extended periods of time.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates generally to energy storage devices and, more particularly, to electroactive electrical components for electrostatically storing energy in an electric field. Background technique [0002] Recently, there has been a trend to use electrochemical capacitors for enhanced storage of electrical energy. These capacitors obtain their enhanced properties according to two main mechanisms: double-layer capacitance and quasi-capacitance. Double-layer capacitors use an electric double layer (explained below) to achieve a very small charge separation (d), which increases the electric field (E), increases Capacitance (Q) and thereby increasing the stored energy (U) for this given voltage, as shown in Eq. 1 to 3 below. [0003] E q .1 - - - E = V d [0004] where E = electric field, V = potential difference or v...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0013] Current EDLCs can only handle low voltages before breakdown

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