SBIR Phase II: The Development of Higher Voltage, Longer Life and Lower Cost Activated Carbon Materials for Supercapacitors

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力正在显着增加当今超级电容器和锂离子电池的使用方式。 超级电容器提供非常高的功率能力和高能效，并且已用于许多可再生能源应用，例如混合动力公交车和风力涡轮机。 目前，由于相对于锂离子电池的高成本和低能量密度，它们的使用受到限制。 Coulometrics开发了一种专有工艺，可以将低成本活性炭材料改性为超级电容器级碳，能量密度高出25%，寿命是现有材料的两倍。 这些关键的发展将降低整个系统的成本，提高电池寿命，使超级电容器在可再生能源应用中得到更广泛的使用。 库仑法还表明，可以使用非常类似的方法将天然石墨转化为具有更高能量密度和显著更低成本的锂离子级阳极材料。 这一过程还将使一家北方美国公司成为非洲大陆第一家锂离子电池石墨生产商，这将大大降低电动汽车等应用的锂离子电池成本。 这两个项目都将带来额外的环境效益，包括减少温室气体排放，减少化石燃料的燃烧，并有助于保护环境。该项目旨在突破十多年来使超级电容器电压和能量密度停滞不前的重大障碍，并大幅降低锂离子电池碳材料的成本。 超级电容器公司都生产具有不同碳、电解质、电池构造等的产品，但都限于相同的性能规格。我们认为这与碳表面发生的氧化/还原反应有关;这是一个相当直观的假设;然而，解决方案的尝试是徒劳的。我们在第一阶段开发的表面处理导致这些氧化/还原电流减少了50%以上。这项技术将带来超级电容器行业10多年来最大的性能提升。 此外，限制超级电容器市场增长的最具挑战性的因素之一是其高成本，其中活性炭占27%。Coulometrics的处理应用于廉价的水过滤碳，也在第一阶段开发，已显示出非常相似的性能增强，并将成本高达95%低于商业活性炭材料。 石墨炭的表面改性工艺将使基于天然石墨的锂离子电池炭负极材料的低成本和高质量生产成为可能。 这一突破可以显着降低锂离子电池成本，这是更广泛采用电动汽车的关键因素，这将有助于减少我国对进口外国石油的依赖。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in significantly increasing the ways supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries are used today. Supercapacitors offer very high power capabilities and high energy efficiency and have been used in many renewable energy applications such as hybrid buses and wind turbines. Currently, their use is limited due to high cost and low energy density relative to Li-ion batteries. Coulometrics has developed a proprietary process that can modify low cost activated carbon materials into supercapacitor grade carbons with 25% higher energy density and twice the current lifespan of existing materials. These critical developments will lower the overall system cost and improve cell life allowing for more widespread use of supercapacitors in renewable energy applications. Coulometrics has also shown that a very similar process can be used to convert natural graphite to lithium ion grade anode materials with higher energy density and significantly lower cost. This process will also enable a Northern American company to become the first producer of graphite for lithium ion batteries on the continent which can significantly reduce lithium ion battery cost for applications such as electric vehicles. Both projects will have additional environmental benefits including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, less burning of fossil fuels, and help protect the environment.The project seeks to break through a significant barrier that has kept ultracapacitor voltage and energy density stagnant for over a decade and significantly reduce costs of lithium ion battery carbon materials. Supercapacitor companies all produce products with different carbons, electrolytes, cell construction, etc. and yet are all confined to the same performance specifications. We believe that this is related to oxidation/reduction reactions that occur on the carbon surface; a fairly intuitive hypothesis; however attempts at solutions have been futile. The surface treatment we developed in Phase I has resulted in a reduction of these oxidation/reduction currents by more than 50%. This technology will lead to the largest performance gains in the ultracapacitor industry in over 10 years. Additionally, one of the most challenging factors limiting market growth for ultracapacitors is their high cost, of which activated carbon accounts for 27%. Coulometrics' treatment applied to inexpensive water filtration carbon, also developed in Phase I, has shown very similar performance enhancements, and will cost up to 95% less than commercial activated carbon materials. The surface modification process for graphitic carbons will enable the low cost and high quality production of carbon anode materials for lithium ion batteries based on natural graphite. This breakthrough can significantly reduce lithium ion battery cost which is a key element for more wide spread adoption of electric vehicles which will help reduce our nation's dependence on the need to import foreign oil.