Photonic Materials Technology Section (PMTS)

Nano-Functional Materials Laboratory

Very high surface area carbon aerogels for energy applications. Development of heterogeneous carbon aerogels (N-doped CA) for achieving inherently conducting and wettable carbon materials for supercapacitor (SC) application. SC modules were fabricated using 18S-2P cell configuration (18 in Series, 2 in Parallel) with capacitance of ~ 450 Farads per cell. The main parameters of the module are Capacitance: 61 F, voltage: 12.5 voltage, total energy storage of ~ 4.5 k-Joule and ESR (DC) of ~5.5 m-Ω. These parameters are well comparable to the similar module (16 V, 60 F) of Maxwell Inc. Module was used for cracking a car engine with ignition current of ~208 A. Development of SC module of ~10 kJ energy at 100 V operation is in progress for departmental application.

Fig 1. Supercapacitor module

Fig 2 Cranking of a car engine