Pate Bishop

Supercapacitors, also referred to as ultracapacitors or electric double-layer capacitors, differ from regular capacitors in two ways: their plates have a much larger area with a smaller distance between them and the separating material between them differs from a conventional dielectric in regular capacitors. In regular capacitors, the dielectric is relatively thick compared to the thin insulator, which may be carbon, paper, or plastic, found between two plates in a supercapacitor. Now, to how they are created. When the two plates are soaked in an electrolyte, they become charged and an opposite charge forms on each side of the separator (the thin insulator), creating what is known as an electric double-layer, which may be as small as one molecule thick. This is why they are often referred to as electric double-layer capacitors. Due to their much larger plate size and smaller separation distance, supercapacitors can typically store 10 to 100 times more energy per unit volume or mass than regular capacitors. This fact allows supercapacitors the ability to accept and deliver charge much faster than regular batteries, and tolerate more charge and discharge cycles than rechargeable batteries. All of these advantages are not without disadvantages, however; supercapacitors are normally about 10 times larger than regular batteries. Though they may be very large, supercapacitors have many real-world applications. For uses of technology by the general public, supercapacitors stabilize the power supply in laptops, GPS devices, and portable media players. Supercapacitors also deliver power for flashes in digital cameras. In the medical field, supercapacitors are now being used in defibrillators, delivering up to 500 joules to bring the heart back into sinus rhythm. Engineers have found several ways to use supercapacitors in transportation. On railways, supercapacitors can provide up to 30% energy savings by recovering braking energy, allowing for less diesel fuel to be used and making trains more environmentally friendly. Supercapacitors are also used in the production of hybrid buses and cars, reducing fuel consumption by 10-15% for the former and up to 60% by the latter. With the green energy movement, supercapacitors are sure to find even more applications for various things.