Composite carbon-based ionic liquid supercapacitor for high-current micro devices

Manufacture and performance of a composite carbon-based supercapacitor that employs a gel polymer ionic liquid electrolyte to achieve stable, long cycle life, high-current draw energy storage is discussed in this paper. This supercapacitor when cycled galvanostatically can achieve a discharge capacitance of 43.0 mF per square centimeter of substrate by leveraging the strengths of a composite electrode composition. The printed manufacturing process takes place in ambient conditions at room temperature enabling high-current, rechargeable energy storage to be built onto many substrates. Single-cell discharge power densities have reached 404 μW/cm2 which could enable many technologies when paired with a MEMS energy harvester.