The effect of lithium loadings on anode to the voltage drop during charge and discharge of Li-ion capacitors

The IR voltage drop from the anode and cathode of Li-ion capacitors during charge and discharge was studied. Li-ion capacitors were made with activated carbon cathode and hard carbon anode with different loadings of stabilized lithium metal powder (SLMP). It was found that the LICs with high SLMP loadings showed smaller voltage drop than LICs with low SLMP loadings. It was also found that at low SLMP loadings, the IR voltage drops at high cell voltages were smaller than that at low cell voltages; while at high SLMP loadings, small IR voltage drops were obtained for both low and high cell voltages. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirmed that voltage drops are directly related to the internal resistances of Li-ion capacitors.