Batteries, Supercapacitors, Alternative Storage for Portable Devices 2009-2019 Batteries, capacitors, supercapacitors, fuel cells, alternatives By Dr Peter Harrop and Dr Harry Zervos IDTechEx www.idtechex.com © IDTechEx Ltd except company literature which remains the copyright of the companies in question. IDTechEx Ltd IDTechEx, Inc. IDTechEx (Germany) Downing Park 222 Third Street Weststraße 49 Swaffham Bulbeck Suite 0222 D - 09112 Chemnitz Cambridge, CB25 0NW Cambridge MA 02142 Deutschland (Germany) United Kingdom United States The rights of Dr Peter Harrop and Dr Harry Zervos to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. DISCLAIMER The facts set out in this publication are obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable. 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For more details please contact the primary author (details below). Please give the name of the report purchased and when. The publisher IDTechEx is a knowledge-based consultancy company providing research and analysis on printed and thin film electronics, RFID, energy harvesting, photovoltaics and smart packaging. The company gives strictly independent marketing, technical and business advice and services on these subjects in three forms - consulting, publications and events. Learn more at www.IDTechEx.com Raghu Das, CEO Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman Glyn Holland, Senior Editor + 44 1223 813703 + 44 1256 862163 + 44 1223 813703 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] IDTechEx was winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2006, the UK’s most prestigious business award. The authors Dr Peter Harrop, PhD, FIEE is founder, controlling shareholder and Chairman of IDTechEx Ltd. He was previously Chief Executive of Mars Electronics, the $260 million electronics company and Chairman of Pinacl plc, the $100m fibre optic company. He has been chairman of over 15 high tech companies. [email protected] Dr Harry Zervos PhD is a technology analyst with IDTechEx. Harry received his degree in physics from the University of Athens, Greece, and went on to study materials science at Cranfield University, where he received his PhD. His research focused on the precision engineering and nanotechnology field, and is currently involved in the analysis and study of innovative solar cell technologies. [email protected] © ID T e c h E x L td Batteries, Supercapacitors, Alternative Storage for Portable Devices 2009-2019 C o n t e n t s Contents Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1 1. INTRODUCTION 17 1.1. Small electrical and electronic devices 17 1.2. What is a battery? 18 1.2.1. Battery definition 18 1.2.2. Battery history 18 1.2.3. Analogy to a container of liquid 18 1.2.4. Construction of a battery 19 1.2.5. Many shapes of battery 19 1.2.6. Single use vs rechargeable batteries 20 1.2.7. Challenges with batteries in small devices 21 1.3. What is a capacitor? 22 1.3.1. Capacitor definition 22 1.3.2. Capacitor history 22 1.3.3. Analogy to a spring 22 1.3.4. Capacitor construction 23 1.4. Limitations of energy storage devices 26 1.4.1. The electronic device and its immediate support 26 1.4.2. Safety 28 1.4.3. Improvement in performance taking place 29 1.5. Standards 31 2. RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES 35 2.1. Technology successes and failures 35 2.2. Lithium polymer vs lithium ion 36 2.3. New shapes – laminar and flexible batteries 36 2.3.1. Laminar lithium batteries 36 2.3.2. Ultrathin battery from Front Edge Technology 38 2.4. Transparent battery – NEC and Waseda University 40 2.5. New methods of charging 42 2.6. Technology Challenges 43 2.7. Threat to lithium prices? 44 2.8. New applications for new laminar rechargeable batteries 46 © 3. SINGLE USE BATTERIES 49 ID T 3.1. Tadiran Batteries twenty year batteries 49 ech E x 3.2. Laminar printed manganese dioxide batteries 52 L td Batteries, Supercapacitors, Alternative Storage for Portable Devices 2009-2019 C o n t e n t s 3.2.1. Printed battery construction 52 3.2.2. Printed battery production facilities 52 3.2.3. Applications of printed batteries 53 3.2.4. Printed battery specifications 55 3.3. Other emerging needs for laminar batteries – apparel and medical 58 3.3.1. Electronic apparel 58 3.3.2. Wireless body area network 59 3.4. Nanotube flexible battery 61 3.5. Biobatteries do their own harvesting 63 3.6. Battery that incorporates energy harvesting - FlexEl 64 3.7. Microbatteries built with viruses 64 3.8. Biomimetic energy storage system 66 3.9. Magnetic spin battery 67 4. CAPACITORS AND SUPERCAPACITORS 69 4.2. Example of capacitor storage application – e-labels 69 4.3. Many shapes of capacitor 70 4.4. Capacitors for small devices 70 4.5. Technology of capacitors 71 4.5.1. Technology of non-polar capacitors 71 4.5.2. Technology of the electrolytic capacitor 72 4.5.3. Development path 72 4.6. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors 73 4.6.2. High capacitance but at a price 75 4.6.3. Non-polar electrolytic 75 4.6.4. Safety issues 75 4.6.5. Polarity 75 4.6.6. The dielectric is fragile 76 4.6.7. Electrolyte 76 4.7. Tantalum electrolytic capacitors 77 5. SUPERCAPACITORS = ULTRACAPACITORS 79 5.1. Where supercapacitors fit in 79 5.2. Advantages and disadvantages 81 5.3. How it all began 82 5.4. Applications 85 5.5. Uses in small devices. 86 5.6. Relevance to energy harvesting 87 5.6.1. Perpetuum harvester 88 © 5.6.2. Human power to recharge portable electronics 88 ID Te 5.6.3. Use in nanoelectronics 89 c h Ex 5.7. Can supercapacitors replace capacitors? 89 L td 5.8. Can supercapacitors replace batteries? 89 Batteries, Supercapacitors, Alternative Storage for Portable Devices 2009-2019 C o n t e n t 5.9. Electric vehicle demonstrations and adoption 91 s 5.10. How an ELDC supercapacitor works 92 5.10.1. Basic geometry 92 5.10.2. Properties of EDL 94 5.10.3. Charging 95 5.10.4. Discharging and cycling 96 5.10.5. Energy density 96 5.10.6. Achieving higher voltages 96 5.11. Improvements coming along 97 5.11.1. Better electrodes 97 5.11.2. Better electrolytes 97 5.11.3. Better carbon technologies 98 5.11.4. Carbon nanotubes 98 5.11.5. Carbon aerogel 98 5.11.6. Solid activated carbon 98 5.11.7. Carbon derived carbon 99 5.11.8. Graphene 99 5.11.9. Polyacenes or polypyrrole 102 5.12. Supercapacitor performance without EDL - EEstor 103 5.13. Using a supercapacitor to manage your power 103 5.14. Supercabatteries or bacitors 112 6. FUEL CELLS AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES 115 6.1. Fuel cells 115 6.2. New forms of miniature fuel cells 117 6.2.1. Ultracell Corporation – methanol micro fuel cells 117 6.2.2. Microbial fuel cells 118 6.2.3. Lightweight hydrogen generating fuel cell 118 6.2.4. Biomimetic approach with MIT fuel cell 119 6.3. Mechanical storage 120 7. ORGANISATION PROFILES 123 7.1. Blue Spark Technologies USA 123 7.2. Cap-XX Australia 125 7.3. Celxpert Energy Corp. Taiwan Head Quarter 126 7.4. Cymbet USA 129 7.5. Duracell USA 134 7.6. Enfucell Finland 135 7.7. Excellatron USA 136 7.8. Freeplay Foundation UK 137 © ID 7.9. Front Edge Technology USA 138 Te c h 7.10. Frontier Carbon Corporation Japan 140 Ex L 7.11. Harvard University USA 142 td Batteries, Supercapacitors, Alternative Storage for Portable Devices 2009-2019 C o n t e n t s 7.12. Hitachi Maxell 143 7.13. Holst Centre Netherlands 144 7.14. Infinite Power Solutions USA 146 7.15. Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Singapore 147 7.16. Lebônê Solutions South Africa 148 7.17. Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA 150 7.18. Matsushita Battery Industrial Company Ltd. 150 7.19. Maxwell Technologies Inc., USA 150 7.20. Nanotecture, UK 153 7.21. National Renewable Energy Laboratory USA 156 7.22. NEC Japan 158 7.23. Nippon Chemi-Con Japan 159 7.24. Oak Ridge National Laboratory USA 160 7.25. Panasonic Japan 161 7.26. Planar Energy Devices USA 162 7.27. Power Paper Israel 163 7.28. Prelonic Technologies 164 7.29. Renata Batteries 166 7.30. ReVolt Technologies Ltd 168 7.31. Sandia National Laboratory USA 169 7.32. Solicore USA 170 7.33. Tadiran Batteries 173 7.34. Technical University of Berlin Germany 175 7.35. Sony Japan 175 7.36. University of California Los Angeles USA 175 7.37. University of Michigan USA 177 7.38. University of Sheffield UK 179 7.39. University of Wollongong Australia 179 7.40. Waseda University 180 8. MARKETS AND FORECASTS 181 8.1. Market for batteries, supercapacitors, other 181 8.2. Total global battery market 183 8.3. Global battery market by use 185 8.3.1. Rechargeable batteries by use 185 8.3.2. Batteries for RFID 186 8.3.3. Batteries for gift cards 189 8.3.4. Batteries for car keys 190 8.3.5. Printed and thin film batteries 2009-2019 190 © ID T e c h E x L td Batteries, Supercapacitors, Alternative Storage for Portable Devices 2009-2019 C o n t e n t 9. GLOSSARY 191 s APPENDIX 1: IDTECHEX PUBLICATIONS AND CONSULTANCY 195 APPENDIX 2 INTRODUCTION TO PRINTED ELECTRONICS 205 © ID T e c h E x L td