Supercapacitor electrochemical cell

Abstract

The present invention provides a thin-film palladium electrode as a reversible redox-active positive electrode in a supercapacitor configuration. A room-temperature chloroaluminate molten salt composed of an organic chloride, mixed with a molar excess of aluminum chloride, is used as the supercapacitor electrolyte. In this electrolyte, the palladium surface can be reversibly oxidized to an insoluble thin-film of palladium chloride. Reduction of this palladium chloride thin film back to palladium metal, generates a high current density. The capacitance of this supercapacitor electrode is 150-550 times that of a double-layer capacitor electrode. By combining the thin-film palladium supercapacitor positive electrode (cathode) with a suitable negative electrode (anode), e.g. a metallic aluminum anode, a high power supercapacitor cell, capable of delivering a charge at high current density, at near constant voltage of ca.1 V, is provided per the present invention. The cell of the invention can accordingly provide power for devices requiring pulsed electric power, e.g. lasers and for numerous other systems of high current demand, e.g. starters for electric vehicles.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.