AAWSAP DIRD, Ultracapacitors as Energy and Power Storage Devices, November 2010

This Defense Intelligence Reference Document was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office and dated 1 November 2010. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications Program. The report reviews how ultracapacitors work, how they compare with batteries, their history and materials, and their commercial, military and aerospace uses. It concludes that new materials and cell designs will raise energy density and that the U.S. government must understand the devices' spectral signatures.

From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 11/1/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD surveys ultracapacitors as high-power energy-storage devices and argues that their main value lies in extremely rapid charge and discharge, very long cycle life, and usefulness in systems that need short bursts of power rather than sustained energy delivery. The report explains how ultracapacitors differ from batteries, reviews the materials and cell designs that determine their performance, and emphasizes that they are especially useful for power stabilization, backup power, load leveling, regenerative braking, and other applications where fast energy transfer matters more than total stored energy. It also notes their drawbacks, including lower energy density, self-discharge, and voltage-management requirements that limit their usefulness as stand-alone replacements for batteries in many applications. The document presents ultracapacitors as a maturing and increasingly important technology whose most credible aerospace and military uses lie in pulsed-power, missile and munitions systems, electric propulsion support, and other hybrid power architectures rather than in long-duration primary energy storage.

UNCLASSIFIED1/FOR 8ffl@IAL tt.!! 8flt I
Sintered TIC plate TIC plate - CDC film
D Teflon pla tes
\ - Electrolyte + eparator
C-CDC fi lm
2. C II a embly
Figure 10. CDC Synthesis and Electrochemical Test Cell Preparation Schematic.42
Electrochemical measurements of CDC films were carried out in a three-electrode
configuration with a large, overcapacitive activated carbon counter-electrode in both lM
TEABF4 and lM H2SO4, as well as two-electrode cells with symmetric bu lk CDC film
electrodes. Volumetric capacitance was calcu lated for each of the different film
thicknesses (shown in Figure 11). For both TEABF4 and H2SO4, the volumetric
capacitance decreases with increasing coating t hickness. Th is is especia ll y pro nounced
in the organic electro lyte, where there is a huge increase in volumetric capacitance as
the film thickness decreases from 200 to ~2 mm.
A 180
6j'
E 160
.!:?
~ 140
Q)
0
C: 120
l!!
-~ 100
a.
ca0 80
0
·c:
'1ii 60
E:::,
g 40 •
20
B 180
r;,
E 160
~ 140
¢1
0
C: 120
19
'ij 100
~
<11
0 80
0
~ 60 •E:::,
g 40
20
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Coating thickness (μm) Coaling thickness (μm)
Figure 11. Volumetric Capacitance of the Films in (A) TEABF4 and ( B) H2S0 4.43
MAGNETIC CAPACITORS
Giant magneto capacitance (GMC) is a qua ntum mechanical effect observed in t hi n-fi lm
structures composed of alternating ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic layers. 44• 45 Such
materials have been reported to have increased permittivity by 109 . 46 This material
behavior norma lly occurs at tempe ratures we ll below 273K and has only recently been
reported in the literature above this temperature.47 However, since 2007, Northern
Lig hts Semiconductor Corp. {N LSC) has been developing a magnetic capacitor {MCap)
that utilizes a material which exhibits the GMC above 300K.
Structured like the basic flat-plate capacitor, an MCap nanocell featu res a proprietary
dielectric layer sandwiched between two magnetized layers. Each magnetic material
layer is made of multiple nanometer-thick thi n-film layers. Millions of MCap nanocells
are created and linked using a semiconductor thin-fi lm process, producing the MCap cell
on a wafer {Figure 12).
UN CLASSIFIEO/fFOA OFFl€il.t.k YSE O,.Llf
21