Characterization of electric double-layer capacitor with 0.75 M NAI and 0.5 m VOSO₄ electrolyte

We describe a redox-enhanced electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) that turns the electrolyte in a conventional EDLC into an integral, active component for charge storage—charge is stored both through faradaic reactions with soluble redox-active molecules in the electrolyte, and through the double-layer capacitance in a porous carbon electrode. The mixed-redox electrolyte, composed of vanadium and iodides, was employed to achieve high power density. The electrochemical reaction in a supercapacitor with vanadium and iodide was studied to estimate the charge capacity and energy density of the redox supercapacitor. A redox supercapacitor with a mixed electrolyte composed of 0.75 M NaI and 0.5 M VOSO₄ was fabricated and studied. When charged to a potential of 1 V, faradaic charging processes were observed, in addition to the capacitive processes that increased the energy storage capabilities of the supercapacitor. The redox supercapacitor achieved a specific capacity of 13.44 mAh/g and an energy density of 3.81 Wh/kg in a simple Swagelok cell. A control EDLC with 1 M H₂SO₄ yielded 7.43 mAh/g and 2.85 Wh/kg. However, the relatively fast self-discharge in the redox-EDLC may be due to the shuttling of the redox couple between the polarized carbon electrodes.