Electrochemical characteristics and impedance spectroscopy studies of carbon-carbon supercapacitors

This paper presents the results obtained on the electrochemical behavior of electrochemical capacitors assembled in nonaqueous electrolyte. The first part is devoted to the electrochemical characterization of carbon-carbon 4 cm(2) cells systems in terms of capacitance, resistance, and cyclability. The second part is focused on the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy study of the cells. Nyquist plots are presented and the impedance of the supercapacitors is discussed in terms of complex capacitance and complex power. This allows the determination of a relaxation time constant of the systems, and the real and the imaginary part of the complex power vs. the frequency plots give information on the supercapacitor cells frequency behavior. The complex impedance plots for both a supercapacitor and a tantalum dielectric capacitor cells are compared. (C) 2003 The Electrochemical Society.