Establishing a new testing protocol of the electrochemical stability window for electric double-layer capacitors

Abstract

The electrochemical stability window (ESW) is crucial for determining the energy density of electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). However, current ESW testing protocols of EDLCs are strongly affected by artificial factors, thereby leading to unreliable result. To solve this problem, we first identify the key shortcomings of the traditional protocols by analyzing their test principles. Subsequently, taking an aqueous carbon-based EDLC as an example, we design a side reaction descriptor to represent the response difference in the charging capacitance to side reactions between the cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge methods. With the aid of this descriptor, we propose a new ESW testing protocol, which is not only able to completely avoid the adverse influence of subjective factors but also fully consider the operating condition limitations. The protocol can be extended from the single electrode to the full device. This work proposes a more rigorous definition of ESW and provides a reliable protocol for evaluating the ESW of EDLCs.