Investigation of Charging Efficiency of a Lithium-ion Capacitor during Galvanostatic Charging Method

Abstract

The charging efficiency of a lithium-ion capacitor (LIC) is an important problem. Until now, due to the stepwise charging method, the charging efficiency of 95.5% has been realized. However, the problem is that the issue of what level the charging efficiency can be increased to, is yet to be well investigated. In this article, the problem is investigated under the galvanostatic charging condition. The charging efficiency is measured as a function of the charging current. As a result, it can be more than 99.5% when the charging is quasi-static, in other words, an adiabatic process is realized. Next, the problem of how much energy can be taken out from the energy-stored capacitor is investigated with a load resistor circuit. It is clarified that the discharging energy from the capacitor is equal to the stored energy in the case when a load resistor is used and the discharging is quasi-static. It is confirmed that LICs are suitable for use as energy storage devices.