(12) United States Patent (1O) Patent No.: US 8,081,418 B2 Brandon Et Al
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(12) United States Patent (1o) Patent No.: US 8,081,418 B2 Brandon et al. (45) Date of Patent: Dec. 20, 2011 (54) LOW TEMPERATURE DOUBLE-LAYER 6,949,317 B2 * 9/2005 Yoshida et al . ............... 429/303 CAPACITORS 7,154,737 B2 * 12/2006 Maruo et al ................... 361/502 7,471,502 B2 * 12/2008 Sato eta] . ..................... 361/502 OTHER PUBLICATIONS (75) Inventors: Erik J. Brandon, Pasadena, CA (US); Marshall C. Smart, Studio City, CA Kotz, R., "Temperature behavior and impedance fundamentals of (US); William C. West, South Pasadena, supercapacitors", J of Power Sources (Dec. 1, 2005) pp. 7462-7467. CA (US) Gualous, H., "Experimental study of supercapacitor serial resistance and capacitance ... temperature', J of Power Sources (Sep. 15, 2003) 123:86-93. (73) Assignee: California Institute of Technology, Ratnakumar, B.V., "Lithium batteries for aerospace applications: Pasadena, CA (US) 2003 Mars exploration rover", JofPower Sources (Apr. 23, 2003) pp. 906-910. (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this Shojah-Ardalan, S., "Susceptibility ... irradiation" Radiation ... patent is extended or adjusted under 35 Workshop, 2003 IEEE ISBN: 0-7803-8127-0 (Jul. 2003) pp. 89-91. U.S.C. 154(b) by 753 days. Merryman, S., "Chemical double-layer capacitor Power Source for electromechanical thrust vector control actuator" J of Propulsion and Power (Jan. 1996) 12:1 89-94. (21) Appl. No.: 12/134,128 Ue, M., "Electrochemical properties of organic liquid electrolytes based on quaternary ... capacitors", J Electrochem. Soc. (Nov. 1994) (22) Filed: Jun. 5, 2008 141:112989-2996. Janes et al., "Use oforganic esters as co-solvents for electrical double (65) Prior Publication Data Layer capacitors with low temperature ... J. Electroanal. Chem., vol. 588, 285-295 (Feb. 14, 2006). US 2008/0304207 Al Dec. 11, 2008 * cited by examiner Related U.S. Application Data Primary Examiner Nguyen T Ha (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm Canady & Lortz LLP; (60) Provisional application No. 60/967,092, filed on Aug. Bradley K. Lortz 31, 2007, provisional application No. 60/933,323, filed on Jun. 5, 2007. (57) ABSTRACT Double-layer capacitors capable of operating at extremely (51) Int. Cl. low temperatures (e.g., as low as —75° C.) are disclosed. HOIG 9100 (2006.01) Electrolyte solutions combining a base solvent (e.g., acetoni- (52) U.S. Cl. ........ 361/523; 361/517; 361/519; 361/525; trile) and a cosolvent are employed to lower the melting point 361/528; 361/529 of the base electrolyte. Example cosolvents include methyl (58) Field of Classification Search .................. 361/523, formate, ethyl acetate, methyl acetate, propionitrile, buty- 361/516-519, 525, 528-529, 530-531, 540; ronitrile, and 1,3-dioxolane. An optimized concentration 29/25.01, 25.03 (e.g., 0.10 M to 0.75 M) of salt, such as tetraethylammonium See application file for complete search history. tetrafluoroborate, is dissolved into the electrolyte solution. In some cases (e.g., 1,3-dioxolane cosolvent) additives, such as 2% by volume triethylamine, may be included in the solvent (56) References Cited mixture to prevent polymerization of the solution. Conven- tional device form factors and structural elements (e.g., U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS porous carbon electrodes and a polyethylene separator) may 5,369,546 A * 11/1994 Saito etal . .................... 361/502 be employed. 6,324,049 BI* 11/2001 Inagawa et al . ............... 361/502 6,466,429 BI* 10/2002 Vollkovich et al............ 361/502 21 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets o-600 61 10 U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 1 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 0 0 Q CO 0 V 0 Q U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 2 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 aU !A Vl G_1 ^O V M M M \O W) N lI1 M O O O O O N O O O W vC O U ,: kn l M O I:t M 06 t-: \,G cV NU .-rN .d N 0U _V an .5 Cn 2 00 M kn r- ^ N C 0000 U0 0 a 0 a^ n a^ vi w ° rn (7N 000 ^ a^ 0 a^ 40. c 0 O U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 3 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 0U bA ^10 :^t O O O Q\ M 00 00 l- [- [- ^ 19 O m N 0 0 a Oftftft U LL .--i .-r _-w rr .-r —.4 .-r y M M M M C;l .92 N O °a a^ N C ^ o CA x ^ o cc N L, Qi M O N II^ V U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 4 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 0 ^ p^ g^ g kn O O ^-- ^--^ C C 0 0 W W L E4 r ^, ^^ 0 0 o O O O o 0 I 1 1 W Cl CO 0 OV LL O_ u ..^ o L N C O .O C .r U O 42 W HOC k Le U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 5 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 0 O N C1 V i i IO CD I ! - u') U. i a o i m o U. I o ,E 'Itt- d i o LO O O iLO i I 0 un N L u') o N e- p (SIIOA) 06e;BOA 3a U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 6 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 O CO I I ! o w c `O a N 1- O O c41 0 ^ I I I N TO O V O r. r ^ N LO I Cl C? ~ ftftftft LL C^ 1 LO E I O Cfl O TN TO CO c0 N O (0) GOUBISrsa.J saiaas Jualeninb3 U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 7 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 x--600 60 606 616 612 618 604 FIG. 6A ,ir-600 61 10 FIG. 66 U.S. Patent Dec. 20, 2011 Sheet 8 of 8 US 8,081,418 B2 Start x-700 702 Dispose a first porous electrode for conducting a charge and a second porous electrode for conducting an opposing charge in a case. 704 Prepare an electrolyte solution comprising a salt dissolved into at least a base solvent and a second solvent for reducing a melting point of the base solvent. Dispose a separator between the first porous electrode 706 and the second porous electrode allowing for conduction of ions while electrically insulating the first porous electrode and the second porous electrode. Soak the first electrode and the second electrode with the electrolyte solution in the case to enable formation of an electrical double-layer at interfaces of both the first porous 708 electrode and the second porous electrode with the electrolyte solution and thereby exhibit a dielectric interaction between charged surfaces of the first porous electrode and the second porous electrode and the ions of the electrolyte solution. End FIG. 7 US 8,081,418 B2 1 2 LOW TEMPERATURE DOUBLE-LAYER (where most space-rated avionics are required to operate) is CAPACITORS necessary to allow these components to be easily integrated with existing space avionics. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional double- APPLICATIONS s layer capacitor 100. The double-layer capacitor 100 com- prises two electrical layers 102A, 102B. Each layer 102A, This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 102B includes a porous electrode 106A, 106B, typically car- §1 19(e) ofthe following U. S. provisional patent applications, bon. Note that each porous electrode 102A, 102B in FIG. 1 which are both incorporated by reference herein: appears as multiple separate particles, however, the particles U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/933,323, filed 10 are interconnected in a "sponge-like" structure as will be Jun. 5, 2007, and entitled "LOW TEMPERATURE understood by those skilled in the art. A chemical electrolyte DOUBLE-LAYER CAPACITORS", by Brandon et al.; and solution 108 fills each layer in the interstices of the porous U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/967,092, filed electrodes 106A, 106B. The chemical electrolyte solution Aug. 31, 2007, and entitled "LOW TEMPERATURE 15 108 typically comprises a salt, such as tetraethylammonium DOUBLE-LAYER CAPACITOR TECHNOLOGY", by tetrafluoroborate (TEATFB), dissolved in propylene carbon- West et al. ate or acetonitrile. The layers 102A, 102B are isolated from each other by a separator 110 that is both ionically conducting STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT RIGHTS and electrically insulating to the electrolyte solution 108. A 20 voltage differential across opposite ends of each layer 102A, The invention described herein was made in the perfor- 102B (from conductive contacts to each porous electrode mance of work under a NASA contract, and is subject to the 106A, 106B) induces a positive charge in one porous elec- provisions of Public Law 96-517 (35 U.S.C. 202) inwhichthe trode 106A and a negative charge in the other porous elec- Contractor has elected to retain title. trode 106B which attract negative ions 104A and positive ions 25 104B of the electrolytes solution 108 to each electrode 106A, BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 106B, respectively. In each layer, energy storage is obtained by the charge separation between respective ions 104A, 104B 1. Field of the Invention in the electrolyte solution 108 and the surfaces of the porous This invention relates to electrical double-layer capacitors. electrodes 106A, 106B. The porous structure of the elec- Particularly, this invention relates to low temperature electri- 30 trodes 106A, 106B, providing a very high effective surface cal double-layer capacitors. area (e.g., greater than 1000 m2/g), coupled with the 2. Description of the Related Art extremely short (molecular level) effective charge separation The storage of electrical energy and delivery of electrical between the ions and those surfaces, yields a high energy power at low temperatures is difficult to achieve.