Tic-Tac supercapacitor - 800F from the kitchen

[@chemicum]

Answers to some questions here and in different phorums: 1) 400F or 800F cells? First version cell was 400F, but newer are 800F per single Tic-Tac case (shown only in the end of the video) because of packing more carbon into the case with a better technology, less epoxy, different mesh, higher pressure. And actually it was 577F not 400F - our calculation formula was wrong. 2) If you connect two 800F capacitors in series, then you have a 400F device. 3) The capacitance was also checked by impedance and different chronocoulonometry methods. 4) We have 3 dead coffee grinders now.

[@kruppstahl1686]

chemicum I really like your video. I instantly rebuilt the supercap and I m really enthusiastic about that project. My results are not as good as yours, but concerning my design, there is still a lot to improve. Thanks for sharing your ideas, you really inspired me :)

[@kruppstahl1686]

chemicum Ihave something mention to your Formula of the capacitance: half-life=Capacitance x Resistance x ln2 . I think you forgot the ln2, so basically your cap has a even bigger capacitance.

[@chemicum]

helut kuno You are correct, Taavi was also late for physics lessons. So the correct value is 577F. The 800F capacitor in the end of the video was measured correctly by impedance.

[@saikittang7450]

How about the table you made a press with LOL

[@chemicum]

+Saikit Tang It was actually free, since we moved from an old chemistry building to a new chemicum and had to leave most of the furniture behind. There is lots of old stuff that is not needed and can be used make the press.

[@sahildwivedi4802]

The storyline, the buildup process, and the alternatives for every thing you showed is totally commendable. Hats off sir! Estonians are awesome indeed!

[@chemicum]

thanks

[@cleitonfelipe2092]

he destroyed a $75 table to make a $75 super capacitor

[@chemicum]

but that table was not able to store electricity

[@cleitonfelipe2092]

fair enough

[@WladBlank]

actually it was... Put a weight on it + string + elec. Generator = electricity

[@Barskor1]

He can put the table back together with a few cheap bolts.

[@gregbell2117]

We're you measuring 1 time constant's worth of discharge (ie 63%)?

[@chemicum]

Instead of polypropylene shade cloth (used for coating cucumbers in the garden), you can also use thin handpaper - several layers if necessary (check short-circuit before adding electrolyte). Only do not use toilet paper, because it dissolves/degrades in water.

[@marjoriejulio9380]

Thank you

[@estherkim4522]

What are thin handpapers?

[@chemicum]

Esther Kim the paper roll or rectangular sheets of paper that are used in toilets or laboratories to dry hands.

[@estherkim4522]

Can you send me a private message of the list of materials and direct instructions for this video?

[@chemicum]

Esther Kim See instructions here (needs flash) www.chemicum.com/?text=99&lan=EN

[@konstantin88181]

1:21 I guess, kitchen table costs more than one supercapacitor...

[@aczbdk]

Not if that table is not his. ;)

[@samnr2723]

lol

[@chemicum]

Instead of kitchen table, the press may be done using a car hydralic jack, weightlifting disks, roof sheets, and iron plate from an oven door kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJSvi2magpKkf7c

[@lolbots]

nice...now you just need a new coffee grinder and a new kitchen table -_0

[@chemicum]

I need coffe grinder (3 dead), mincer (2 dead), new vacuum cleaner (dead), oven door (used), roof sheet (used), table, jack, etc

[@jamesthomson7634]

So now you can wake up but can't have a coffee at the kitchen table before you head to college. lol

[@zombie-survivor]

FYI, you can use wood table and a large stone to grind carbon or coffee bean.

[@Wowthatsfail]

Very nice 80's,Macguyver, "im gonna build a nuke from these bottle caps and yarn" music! Very like!

[@hessian144]

i would have never considered it would be that easy to make a double layer capacitor. great video!

[@TimBox]

Is it a super capacitor or a battery? It looked like you added an electrolyte and its acting like a battery.

[@chemicum]

There are no chemical reactions taking place at the electrodes, only charging of double layer. Thus it is a double layer capacitor or more often called a supercapacitor

[@Teth47]

Electrolytic capacitors are a thing.

[@chemicum]

electrolytic capacitors are different things

[@Teth47]

chemicum Ultracaps are a subclass of electrolytic capacitors... Also, this is a galvanic cell, not a capacitor. The electricity is coming from the interaction between the metal and electrolyte, polarised by the first charge, similar to lead acid batteries. Not sure if the carbon and resin actually play a part, would have to do some testing to see, but at a guess I'd say it's a red herring.

[@chemicum]

I know the chemistry of Edison battery, but we don't have nickel oxide here, only iron. Cyclic voltammetry shows typical supercapacitor behaviour, battery would have a different response and efficiency of battery is much smaller than we obtained. Thus, if the epoxy-coated iron acts then it must be less than 10% of energy stored. It is known that carbon has double layer capacitance of 20 mikroF/cm2 and we measured that this carbon has surface area of 1000 m2/g. This gives 200 F/g for a single porous carbon electrode or 50 F/g per pair of electrodes. And we obtained 44 F/g in the 800F supercapacitor, which has 18g or porous carbon.

[@RaindropServicesNYC]

Thanks for putting this video up. I like your sense of humor.

[@TechHole]

This is phenomenal. Great work

[@aquapulsefuel]

Good one bro. Your studying the best subject in the universe!!! Energy!!!

[@Desaster6]

Thats not a Capacitor, its a Battery, The Carbon and the Fence which is iron inside the NaOH liquid generates a chemical electric Difference between the Carbon and the iron. So the Energy is saved in chemisty and not in a dielectric field

[@TheBarnett8]

+Desaster6 Guy builds an alkaline battery: "Hey I made a major breakthrough in supercaps in my kitchen!"

[@chemicum]

But the electrodes are equal - don't expect a redox battery when taking two iron wires. Secondly, iron needs to be in porous form to act electrochemically. However, there may be a small battery-like contribution to the capacitor behaviour

[@Desaster6]

You might be wight, but its a small capacitant contribution to the battery behavior. Your Electrodes may equal but you got 2 different Carbon layers, which are in series with the iron, you cant denie that. If it would be a Capacitor nearly that capacitance you would need billions of squaremeters of an incredible thin insulating layer. And the coal and the fence are both conductive in a specified value. So i dont see where your dielectric field should generate.

[@jasperizak123]

Desaster6 a supercapacitor stores energy electrostatically, meaning dielectric is not needed

[@sindusethu5796]

it is an electrochemical capacitor

[@WBT714]

I still think this is the best video I've ever seen

[@chemicum]

It must be checked that the + and - electrodes are not in short-circuit - your multimeter should not show any resistance even in the megaohm region. If there is for example resistance of 10 Ohms between the electrodes (before adding electrolyte), then the capacitor won't charge.

[@jimmiandfunny]

chemicum Hi, thanks for very nice video. When I watched it first time I misunderstood the explanation: While you are measuring Ohms, and find infinite resistance, you say „there is no resistance“. Strictly speaking, you found no electrical conductivity. That's imho the opposite of no resistance. But now I got it :-)

[@chemicum]

Andreas Jimmi clumsy text by us, agree. Infinite resistance or zero conductivity between the dry electrodes.

[@tjcofer7517]

+chemicum hey I am having trouble understanding what keeps the electrolites from allowing conductivity?

[@chemicum]

+TJ Cofer electrolyte provides ionic conductivity. It is the electronic conductivity, which must be avoided between the electrodes.

[@tjcofer7517]

+chemicum thanks I looked it up and learned about the double layer effect and now I understand how it works (I am In physics c and I have been taught about conventional capacitors but not supercapacitors

[@oudotcom]

Also you can use a stainless steel mesh filter screen sieve with around 0.5 to 1 mm holes to press the carbonblack or graphite powder into there with just an acrylic binder, so you have a very low electrode resistance. YOu still have to check if the acrylic binder is not decomposed by NaOH or KOH, otherwise use saltwater as the electrolyte...

[@chazzri9982]

wtf, i came here for memes and ended up learning how to make a battery..

[@chemicum]

supercapacitor

[@rambo8863]

chemicum kinda the same, just think they store Power different

[@wdujsub7902]

the main difference is in the inner equivalent series resistance of them

[@shrekfanboy1734]

I didn’t need to know how to make a battery either

[@bluecatdk]

Rambo no the battery is chemical it converts chemical energy to electric, this one only stores electric

[@kevinbyrne4538]

Nicely done, sir. Thanks for documenting and posting your work. P.S. Your English is better than my Estonian would ever be.

[@Laserkarp]

Can't spend 70$: breaks the kitchen table to create a press...

[@chemicum]

There is a better press build in our next video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJSvi2magpKkf7c

[@oudotcom]

BTW, you can also use alufoil as one electrode and use saltwater as the electrolyte. This will give a higher voltage but the alufoil will decompose after a while, but as it is cheap you will have more power this way...This way you will have a combination of a supercap with a galvanic cell ! and you can charge this up also to around 2.7 Volts like normal supercaps ! Better use carbonblack or graphite powder as it is much more conductive and you can use also acrylic binder ....instead of epoxy !

[@Spacekriek]

I loved this, it was very informative and amusing as well ! Thumbs up.

[@cameronjenkins6748]

I noticed something that, I think, shows that the capacitance may be much less than 400 F. At the beginning of the discharge part, the voltage drops from 1.12 volts to about 1.06 volts in about 3 seconds. I put the numbers into an excel spreadsheet and used the goal-seeking function with the standard capacitor discharge formula and found that the capacitance is somewhere in the region of 4 to 10 farads. That is still a fantastic number for a homemade device, but it's not 400 farads.

[@chemicum]

You are correct that integrating (which is more complicated, but more precise) gives lower values. But because there was a mistake in the formula anyway, the actual capacitance is between 400 and 560F for the first version and 800F for the improved version shown in the end

[@cameronjenkins6748]

I guess I may have to try this for myself sometime, just to see what value I get.

[@chemicum]

Good luck, it is not easy, but duable. See also Al-air battery video for better electrode construction

[@igorandradepontocom]

Good job. This is amazing!

[@WBT714]

This is the best video I have ever seen!!!!!!!!!!

[@kasunmalwatta2697]

Great work friend. good luck with your future projects.

[@putraadriansyah8082]

I want to make a similiar to start my car engine without the lead acid battery. Great video! Thanks for sharing

[@БогданМура]

He made a battery.

[@Johnathan3lunt]

Great video!!! Just wondering how did you manage to charge the capacitor to 1.2 volts? I am trying to build what you did here for a personal project.

[@chemicum]

Lm317 chip or regulated power supply. 1.2V can be used for quick experiments, 1-1.1 V is recommended for longer tests (>24h).

[@Johnathan3lunt]

+chemicum THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!! I really appreciate that you helped me out with this! keep making great content!

[@MynecraftCZ]

how did you find it to be 1.2 volts? why not more?

[@matyaszalka4070]

You definitely deserve more subscribers. Keep up the good work!

[@Ganbalf]

The Supreme power for Tic Tacs!

[@mateuszaskawski7333]

What kind of epoxy glue yoou used. How long you stir activated carbon with glue. What is a ratio between them? Thanks

[@chemicum]

Agro4792 look my Al-air battery -car race video, there is newer recipy

[@htomerif]

I want to think this is real, but everything I know about how these EDLC's are made says its fake and you've just got a battery in that case. First, the electrolyte *cannot* contact the metal of either electrode. With this setup, it almost definitely would somewhere. Next, mixing epoxy in with the carbon *totally defeats the purpose of the carbon*, namely having a high surface area and relatively high conductivity. You end up with a brick of conductive, low surface-area epoxy. Lastly, all of this shit is conductive. Sodium hydroxide solution, iron and carbon will all conduct. *Nothing is creating the charge separation necessary for capacitance.*

[@chemicum]

Tiny epoxy droplets connect carbon particles, epoxy is not immersed in the carbon. Electrolyte can contact iron current collectors, since the metal is not soluble in hydroxide. Hydroxide is only ionically conductive, not electron conductor and this is what matters, electrodes are separated with a porous membrane. It works

[@htomerif]

chemicum "Electrolyte can contact iron current collectors". No. It cant. Ever. It doesn't matter if its "ionically conductive" or "majority carrier conductive" or "ballistic plasma vacuum conductive". If it's conductive, your capacitor is fake. Honestly, especially from the current rating, I think you may not be lying about its working, you may not understand that its just a battery, thats all.

[@chemicum]

Its fun arguing. The idea of any electrochemical energy storage device is that there is ionically conductive electrolyte. It means that one ion must be moving from one electrode to another to get one electron going through an external connection, for example motor.

[@htomerif]

chemicum See, no. That's not how it works. Its not like the positive ion goes through the electrolyte and the negative ion *has* to go through the circuit. The negative ion just goes the opposite direction and you end up with a short circuit and a lot of ugly chemistry. I think you used potassium hydroxide? that's a good electrolyte, but just chuck a AA battery in a solution of that and see what happens. It sure as hell will conduct.

[@chemicum]

electron goes through the circuit, ions stay in solution. In supercapacitor both ions are moving, for example from negatively charge electrode, metal cations move to solution (discharge), but in batteries one ion is usually moving from one electrode to another.

[@af-pl2cz]

I think you should try thin copper electrodes. They can be galvanically coated with iron to protect them from NaOH and water. Note that there are mechanical coffee grinders. I use one for making conductive and/or medium tough powders when purity is not important. Fiberglass is very convenient as a membrane. It is cheap and the edges of the pieces can be fused for greater strength and preservation of sheet geometry. In addition, there is a method of grinding materials using an electric discharge in water, but I have not yet tested it for small-particle powders.

[@chemicum]

Cu foil from the kitchen? Also, Cu is more expensive than Fe. Fiberglass might dissolve in hydroxide. Last I used mincher to grind C

[@af-pl2cz]

Sometimes [my] kitchen contains much more unusual things :) A copper layer can be obtained by electroplating from a solution of copper sulfate. It costs cheaper than equal in the amount of copper foil rolls - even taking into account the cost of electricity. (Calculation for the lowest current prices in my city - wherever you live, everything can be completely different and my advice may not be useful.) A copper layer of 0.05-0.15 mm should be sufficient to significantly reduce the resistance and reduce the heating, thereby reducing the evaporation of water and slowing down self-discharge. The resulting copper layer can be coated with iron by the same method. Yes, fiberglass can really dissolve in NaOH. I did not think about it carefully. I will check all available samples when I have time. It will also be interesting to check the properties of plumbing fluoroplastic tape because its appearance in a stretched form under the microscope is very promising.

[@chemicum]

its true, copper can be obtained from plumbing tubes, but someone won't like it.

[@IdelcoEM]

nice video soo funny and good attitude. thumb up! what's the maximum voltage admitted? ?

[@chemicum]

it is 1.2 V with hydroxide, 1.8 V with Na2SO4 or 3.5 V with EMImBF4

[@IdelcoEM]

thanks! pretty amazing!

[@chemicum]

@reeras varghese but it is easy to make it using sulfuric acid (from old lead-acid battery) and soda

[@quentintiefaine1822]

I am trying to make carbon electrodes. Like you did, I grindered activated charcoal before to mix it with epoxy. However, it has a very high electrical resistance (about some kOhms). I do not understand what is wrong in my approach. Please, could you help me ?

[@chemicum]

quentin tiefaine check single carbon particle (1-2mm size) for conductivity. If it is good then the pressure must be higher, Of course as little epoxy as possible and not to food carbon with it

[@mirotzu99]

Goddamn GENIUS! Good job man!

[@chemicum]

thanks

[@tetraedru]

How do you know what voltage the capacitor has? Maybe it's bigger ... thanks

[@chemicum]

At higher voltages it will self-discharge very quickly and case will expand due to formation of gasses. Higher voltage is possible with some other electrolytes.

[@Mic_Glow]

careful with that carbon dust, any static electricity and there is fireball

[@chemicum]

And when it gets into electronics, it kills all - lots of fun

[@aleksekokorev]

Kiitos! Tämä juttu on hyvää. En tule tehdä tämän omalla, mutta tämä on kiinnostuva.

[@RandomLOLGamer]

Tohoh eestlane! Hea video!

[@michailluuko3909]

Jah, eestlased invented Skype.

[@kulkarniniraj14]

How does the performance affect if, instead of dipping in electrolyte, we use dipped paper towel in between? Also, does NaOH evaporate that way?

[@chemicum]

It needs electrolyte and sealed container - otherwise electrolyte evaporates

[@kulkarniniraj14]

I am asking based on how Robert Murray-Smith does it. With just electrolyte dipped paper, but no container.

[@chemicum]

It could be used as a short- lifetime demonstration only. Of course, solid electrolyte can be used without sealable case

[@kulkarniniraj14]

Thanks. Another question is, doesn't electrolyte form a double layer? Theoretically shouldn't that double max. voltage to ~2.2V?

[@chemicum]

Technically yes, there are two capacitors connected in series - anodic gives ~ 0.6 V - and cathodic gives ~ 0.6 V

[@Squeaky_Ben]

I hate to burst your bubble but its pretty much impossible to get even 1 Farad out of these components. You simply must have made a calculation error somewhere. I have seen 1 F capacitors, those things are BIG.

[@milmaxleo7268]

What farad at what voltage? at a lower voltage the capacitors are smaller.

[@chemicum]

There are 1-10F devices to replace PC clock battery - these are quite large, because there are several cells connected in series and series connection reduces capacitance. Nowadays some companies produce 3000F cells, maybe even higher.

[@celifreo6586]

I have a couple 100F supercapacitors, and they are smaller than a d cell battery, also, that's a battery, not a super cap.

[@tanmeh3]

good technical movie. Also i see someone find a good use of tic tac box finally. :)

[@chemicum]

+Tanmaya Meher and it is not a tic-tac bomb

[@chemicum]

Overviews and comments in different sites: hackaday.com/2015/07/19/home-brew-supercapacitor-whipped-up-in-the-kitchen/ www.heise.de/make/meldung/800-Farad-Superkondensator-aus-der-Kueche-2754407.html www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message2980959/pg1 www.wykop.pl/link/2938125/superkondensator-800f-domowym-sposobem/ vk.com/wall-31969346_1564010

[@ElectricmobileOrgUa]

chemicum Coool! Connect 10pcs serial and you get 12V DIY Supercapacitor

[@chemicum]

yes, we plan to do that

[@AlAminIsmailDaily]

do post another video asap! SUBSCRIBED

[@berys76]

All your experemints recure activated carbon (battery-capacitor experemints)

[@chemicum]

True, it is cheapest and effective. We will add other possibilities in the future

[@Jiraton]

This is the most amazingest thing on youtube !

[@sanderluik6298]

i havent seen many videos in estonian. very nice

[@keyvanmalaie]

I can't believe this. Considering the high amount of glue you applied and the large grain size of activated carbon, you would get a very large resistance and much less capacitance!

[@chemicum]

In the video it may seem differently, but only a very low amount of glue was used.Imagine large carbon particles, which are held together by tiny glue droplets

[@bleuazur948]

hello and thank you for this video, what brand of epoxy glue is used? does it not generate a chemical reaction (exothermic and effervescent) with the soda? moving the cathode away from the anode with a lower soda concentration could favor a higher voltage?

[@chemicum]

brand does not matter, we have used various epoxy glues, expoxy is chemically quite inert, even in hydroxide.

[@bleuazur948]

@@chemicum Ok, thank you for this answer!

[@kientrung1778]

you dont need to destroy the table. Just put it bbetween 2 cartboard plate and use the vise to grip it

[@chemicum]

Crab Mummy still, it needs lots of pressure and some iron plates are needed

[@kientrung1778]

chemicum ok but where did you buy active carbon?

[@chemicum]

water cleaning filter, search from plumbing stores

[@kientrung1778]

chemicum can u give me the voltage regulator circuit

[@chemicum]

lm317 see circuit in video or google lm317 datasheet

[@anil1svnit]

Great job dude..

[@pixelspring]

brilliant McGyver build m8. Well done !

[@zazinassah]

Thanks for sharing this interesting video. However, we tried to recreate this supercapacitor for a school project but didn't understand the purpose of the NaOH. Why would we pour a conductive liquid while trying to insulate the 2 electrodes from each other with polypropylene? Thank you

[@chemicum]

Well, NaOH solution is ionically conductive, not electrically

[@orojasp]

Nice video. The intro and story was funny too! Regards!

[@melody3741]

how did you maintain a constant voltage to power your radio? doesn't voltage drop proportionately with remaining charge?

[@chemicum]

Indeed the supercapacitors are discharged only partially in real applications. For example the 3 supercap cells gave 3.6 V, but radio works with higher than 2.5 V. However, discharging from 3.6 V to 2.5 V gives half of the supercap energy so it is not a big issue.

[@Axel-ro7dn]

"Kitchen table was best candidate for press" *Grinds up kitchen table*

[@anyonecanmakeit718]

Dude any replacement for NaOH?

[@chemicum]

organic solvents, ionic liquids, sodium sulfate

[@Pascal_Robert--Rc_Creations]

You've just gave me an awesome idea! Thank you!

[@chemicum]

Because it is so easy. Thin film electrode technology is too complicated for a home-made supercapacitor. Pressure is needed to obtain a good contact between carbon particles and therefore, good electronic conductivity.

[@chemicum]

Some hints: better use 10% KOH solution, NaOH degrades iron too fast. Do not use Al foil as current collector, because Al dissolves in alkaline. Also, iron current collectors do not withstand acid solution - stainless steel is needed in that case.

[@jlucasound]

Excellent Video!! Loved it. Thanks!

[@chemicum]

If using Al foil on one of the electrodes, it will be an Al-air battery, but it works only once (not thousand times like Tic-Tac capacitor) and gives 1.54 V. The video for the Al-battery is available at chemicum website (I put a link in this video description). We tested 10 materials for the glue, but not an acrylic binder - I have no idea whether it lasts. Thin film technology with carbon black addition is too complicated for building at home.

[@michaelzirkenbach5036]

Sehr gut!

[@abadias1231]

Video good friend. This question must supercapacitor charging or loading it keeps for a long time?

[@chemicum]

Charge it for 10 to 60 minutes and it holds the charge for a few days or up to week for best cases.

[@athenahouse2882]

@chemicum Hi dude, and thanks for sharing. How many 'plates' to get the 1.2V? And does that change if using KOH? Cheers

[@chemicum]

If the plates are in the same vessel then voltage does not depend on number of plates, but capacitance does. KOH gives same voltage than NaOH

[@athenahouse2882]

@@chemicum thanks 👍. I just built one! 6 plates , each plate 220mm x 105mm. I used toothbrush to apply epoxy glue to both sides of SS 316 mesh. Then i scraped off excess glue with flat pce of angle. Then i coated in GAC (coconut, for water filter) . After pressure and oven, checked the resistance , most were around 30R. Does the capacitor need electrical conditioning in any way?

[@chemicum]

Athena House sounds good. In the beginning, some oxygen reduction takes place so hold at 1-1.2V for at least a few hours

[@athenahouse2882]

@@chemicum Thanks. Should you limit the current while charging? Mine initially draws 1.5 A , then drops to 1.1 A for most of the charge. As the capacitor approaches 1.2V, current drops to 0.9A . Also, when 1st fully charged, it was able to supply 6A, (then quickly dropping), now after about 6 cycles , it supplys 5.2A fully charged (Im using NaOh/Stainless steel) Is that normal?

[@chemicum]

looks like real

[@hosseinjeddy2141]

thank you for good video I tried to do it but, unfortunately the result was bad. I have some questions: what is the brand and full name of epoxy glue? how much is the resistance of activated carbon itself? how many hours the electrodes should be under the pressure ? how much the pressure should be ? I'm waiting for your answer thank you

[@chemicum]

+Hossein Jeddy Search plumber shops for the activated carbon filter "Atlas" or other brand. Two-component epoxy is availble in specialized car shops or boat shops - certainly can be ordered from internet, for example West System 105A. This Tic-Tac capacitor is a good system to understand how it works. Stay subscribed, we will probably do a video about electrode rolling - a more fancy technology to make capacitors with 1-10 sek charge time. Good luck!

[@chemicum]

+Hossein Jeddy First charge should be overnight, because it reduces oxygen and the following charge-decharge cycles have then much better efficiency.

[@leoyru.3361]

@@chemicum do you measure/control the current of the charging? how much was used ?

[@chemicum]

@@leoyru.3361 The homemade supercapacitor is pretty robust so no control needed, it takes about 6A when charged at 1.2 V. The numbers were shown on the screen of my lab power supply

[@imbk245]

Hilariously educative. Thanks

[@sendercopier4290]

cool! but isnt it a wet cell battery already?

[@chemicum]

Technically it is a double layer capacitor or supercapacitor or ultracapacitor. Battery has reversible reactions at both electrodes, which do not occur here.

[@zoharparra5080]

how can increase voltage? i mean 3v or 15v one?

[@chemicum]

Zohar Parra connect cells in series

[@freeenergynews]

Well done man ! ;) I really laughed at the beginning, when the clock fell from the wall ! ;) hahaha ! ;) Well, you should better use CarbonBlack or graphite for the carbon layer ! It is much more conductive than the activated charcoal ! But very well done ! Regards, Stefan.

[@okan3644]

Bruh I can't thank you enough for this

[@hessian144]

i can easily see how one could win a science contest with cool science like that lol. i still have a bit to learn before i jump into projects like that myself. while the project seems easy enough i don't fully understand the process of charging or rather i don't want to overcharge or cause damage to the charging unit. i don't want to start any electrical fires either lol. i suppose i should invest more time in it as apposed to just looking at it as a novelty.

[@pradeep01265]

chemicum, this really is good, but i too tried doing it, sparing so many pannies and landed only at max of 2uF, not even milli farad or farad. I will just tell what i used.. 1. Galvanised Iron - stainless steel mesh (tried first) Then i used copper mess (ya, my company gave me) 2. I used Araldite which has too tubes that is hardener and resin, mixed both, pored some carbon on it and left for pressure for 15 hours, then moulded it to my shape. here itself the resistance of electrode is shown very high somewhere in M ohms, but in your video it is only 3.1ohm (how i dont know), my people were saying its only because i used epoxy resin, obviously resistance will be high.. (but thats not case with you) 3. electrolyte is a real blounder, what is 10% NaOH or 5M KOH ????, i dont have the electrolyte at all, which i think best suits the project, From my chemistry lab, i got methonal and added KOH such that it is 1.5 neutralized and i used it as electrolyte. 4. As we pore electrolyte, the resistance is reducing and capacitance is increasing.... what is going on??? Finally its a big flop of the week, i thought atleast i will see some farads.. Bro, please send me the detailed information of how to get it know... There still something misss..ing please mail to mee..

[@chemicum]

1. Check (before adding electrolyte) that you have a good electrical contact between carbon particles and the current collector. Check for short-circuit by pressing two electrodes between the membrane. Is the membrane porous? Add only a minimum amount of glue - some carbon particle sides should clean so that the electrolyte can flow into the porous carbon. It is easier to use carbon particles of 1-3 mm in size and a relatively viscous epoxy glue.

[@pradeep01265]

chemicum , As i got the resistance as 355 ohms, 1000nF between the terminals, can i apply a voltage of 1.0V?

[@chemicum]

Pradeep Raj Without electrolyte the resistance between two electrodes should be more than megaohms, otherwise it is short-circuited. If a single electrode has resistance of megaohm then it wont't work - try larger and more conductive carbon particles (ordinary charcoal grill has quite low conductivity) / higher pressure / less glue. Electrolyte (preferrably 30% potassium hydroxide) and highly porous carbon is what makes it a supercapacitor, without these it is a plate capacitor with capacitance of in the order of nF.

[@pradeep01265]

chemicum what is 30% KOH (my technicians are not understanding it)? I think electrolyte is the only problem

[@chemicum]

Pradeep Raj 30% KOH is 1/3 potassium hydroxide in water.

[@arcsmith4115]

I can't wait to be able to buy these on your cite.

[@chemicum]

Technically I can sell the electrodes, but the case is a problem as I actually finally seal it by melting the cap onto the Tic-Tac case in newer versions and it might be too much expected that everybody has skill and equipment to do so at home.

[@jasonbishop197]

I want to know how hey thought sewer pipe fluid could be used as an electro lite

[@chemicum]

Its just 10% NaOH, can be used, but we suggest KOH

[@jasonbishop197]

What's KHO...?

[@jasonbishop197]

KOH....SPELL CK

[@chevycamaro-rp6tr]

lol such quick replies! just 13 mins!

[@jasonbishop197]

Yes

[@stevenking2980]

Excellent video. You got a sub. I love electronics!

[@MrFlathunter]

What a great video! Thanks for sharing.

[@michaelcooper2762]

now that I have made it what do I do with it

[@Vinni-2K]

kill me please i

[@hellotsunami8748]

All the diy s-caps I've seen use polyurethane in it to stick to the separating mesh instead of a metal mesh and use tinfoil and saltwater to receive and send power to the s-cap. Although one thing I don't get is why can you just sand a large chunk of active carbon then you could get really fine particles of it which would increase surface and decrease size so you could get more s-caps in one box making it have more capacity than this design. What do you think is sanding a good idea

[@chemicum]

if aluminum foil and saltwater is used then it is an aluminum-air battery, not a supercapacitor (note that the latter is rechargeable). We have also tested polyurethane successfully, but with very fine carbon particles this technology won't work.

[@hellotsunami8748]

chemicum the aluminum foil and salt water is just a conductor the active carbon does all the work. Although has any one tried that gel stuff that makes your skin more conductive for electrodes in theory it would work the same way thermal paste on a CPU and fan does. (Maybe that's why fine particles of active Carbon doesn't work.)

[@chemicum]

We used steel or stainless steel current collector, which is not soluble in hydroxide. But aluminum is soluble in hydroxide and it is also electrochemically active in chloride solution.

[@aStillbornone]

nice work!

[@francescoalbergo222]

This is an awesome tutorial. I've replicated the experiment myself with a very similar setup and I obtained nice results. I only want to know: why didn't you use the physics law that relates voltage, time, capacitance and resistance in order to calculate the capacitance? Isn't it able to let you measure capacitance with a bigger accuracy?

[@chemicum]

There is a mistake, the formula in the screen is not correct, see text under the video. We also measured impedance, CV, and constant current charge-discharge methods.

[@francescoalbergo222]

@@chemicum ok thank you for the answer

[@Pertamax7-HD]

veri nic,, really 400 F?

[@chemicum]

And even more

[@solarhope]

Perhaps if you could show charge/disharge V and I into a load over time, the resulting graph profiles would show what type of device you have ie battery, super cap, ultra cap, pseudo cap etc - thought provoking vid - well done Martin.

[@chemicum]

+solarhope It is technically a supercapacitor. Based on the shape of the charge/discharge or i,E curve it is also a supercapacitor. However it is slower than state of art devices, cyclic voltammetry is OK at 0.2-1 mV s-1.

[@paulojfraga]

What was your source (documents, websites, etc) for this home-made supercapacitor? I am participating in a school project and the original source would be useful for my teacher. My best regards

[@chemicum]

Paulo Fraga Explanations here: www.chemicum.com/?text=99&lan=EN (needs flash) and the video itself here in youtube. It was also a school science project, where 25 homemade capacitors with different compositions were built. However, the text is in Estonian and not available in internet.

[@GogogoFolowMe]

02:12 Isn't it more like "infinite resistance" or "no conductivity" ?

[@chemicum]

It is so

[@chemicum]

It is easy. Well, not as simple as a potato battery, it still takes minimum two days. The original Estonian version of this video won a science video contest.

[@estherkim4522]

Sorry, just one more question. How did you apply pressure with the table parts? Is there any other way to do so?

[@АлбертАйнщайн-з1р]

nice video good luck with experiments

[@TheLADMusic]

hello. I am very interested by this but I have a few questions: what is the special alloy current collector you said you used on superaccu ? And, I can't understand the difference between this and the al air battery that you used for the car race challenge. Why one is called a supercapacitor and the other a battery ? thank you

[@chemicum]

supercapacitor has carbon anode and cathode and it is sealed system. Can be charged and discharged many times. Aluminum-air battery has Al foil anode and carbon cathode, where oxygen can absorb and react. Al-air battery has much higher energy density, but cab be recharged only mechanically

[@danielweber8961]

Hi! I am experimenting with diffrent designs of the plates. I did not get that nice plates as you, somehow many of them just fall apart after glueing (some I made are ok). So I decidet to do a "non-glue" plate. I put small pieces of active-coal into a iron mesh (1x1cm squares) and i guled Sheets of PET-foil onto each side of the mesh and sealed it with hot glue. With a needle I made many small holes. I recognized that I can run a 6Ohm dc Motor for 40 minutes, until the voltage has half dropped. I used a "non-glue" plate and a plate like you made. Now my PROBLEM/ QUESTION: If I take two "non-glue" plates the capacitor does not work. In both cases the coal is connected to the Iron mesh and to the electrolyte. Why does this happen/ Have you ideas of making plates without glue?

[@chemicum]

Maybe the problem is bad conductivity because carbon particles are not pressed together to create a good electrical contact. Try to press your electrodes, for example between vice, when charging/discharging - when it helps then it is the case.

[@danielweber8961]

Ok thank you very much for your help, greetings from Germany.

[@astronautnr7]

How do you know which side is positive and which side is negative?

[@chemicum]

Just write + to one electrode and - to another. In the beginning both electrodes are equal but later they may differ somewhat.

[@astronautnr7]

@@chemicum no way you respond to comments on a video made like 7 years ago, THANKS! This tutorial will be so helpful, im having a competition in my class who can build the best capacitor. Hoping to win with this design!

[@MrYeshwanthln]

Nice presentation ! Thank you ! Funny too..!

[@nolanmods7172]

how long does it last at 6 amps?

[@chemicum]

not much, it falls quickly to 2 A and then decreases slowly to 0 during 10-60 minutes, depending on on the version of our cell.

[@nolanmods7172]

so 1 amp hour ish..

[@lucianorodrigo5365]

Hy, at first CONGRATULATIONS! But after some charges it continue with the same capacitance?! Don't oxidade some thing!? the epoxy glue is just to become the iron and carbon together? I have some idea too, using an aluminium foil and borax(boric acid) like eletrolitic... but i dont know the concentration of eletrolitic i shoud to use on that cell... rs

[@bastelting3150]

the resistance of the activated carbon is infinite with you is the resistance on the electrode is very small must a special activated carbon be ?

[@vincentlubin365]

Hi chemicum, do you have test this : Aluminum coated with epoxy and after just puts on the activated carbon, I test on the air, it's functional, aluminum does not deteriorate because it is coated, but carbon against the I will not think ...? but this would seem to do more an accumulator by its discharge , no a capacitor ... Do you think aluminum deteriorates rapidly with contact via the carbon ( the electrolyte spreads inside with carbon) ?

[@chemicum]

+Vincent Lubin It looks more like an aluminum battery kzbin.info/www/bejne/qF68i5iFoNGfiMk I have tried to coat Al with different thin layers, but NaOH comes through and reacts with Al - the question is only does this happen during minutes, hours or days. In non-aqueous electrolytes, Al is of course the first choice for the current collector The carbon must be strongly pressed against the current collector to obtain a good electrical contact

[@vincentlubin365]

+chemicum Thank you for this reponse. what electrolyte non - aqueous you use ? How long aluminum stable performance over time ? Thank you for sharing, possibility of recycling is really great ! you deserve honnors !

[@chemicum]

+Vincent Lubin Non-aqueous electolytes for supercapacitors: triethylmethylammonium tetraflouroborate in acetonitrile or propylene carbonate. Not expensive, but not ovailable for a home chemist. Or butylmethylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide ionic liquid - this one is expensive as a relatively new compound. In these aluminum may have infinite lifetime.

[@vincentlubin365]

+chemicum Thank you for these expliquations and your availability , I will try with toothpaste or balls for flowers lol ;-) I am your fan !

[@samnr2723]

What are the contents of the sewer cleaning liquid? The only ones that I can find (that show what it is made of) say that it is mainly made up of sodium hypochlorite. The sodium hydroxide comes a bit down the list.

[@chemicum]

It is pure 10-20% NaOH aqueous solution (hypochlorite is used in desificating liquids) . But I recommend to get instead potassium hydroxide as there is low lifetime problem with NaOH

[@samnr2723]

chemicum Ok, thanks.

[@simulationknowledge7228]

Hello Dr Chemicum I needed a small help from you actually I'm making the same tic tac super capacitor for my college project. So I needed help from u in this regard I have almost collected the materials required for this work. I have the following questions for you to answer me please. 1. Shall I change the plastering mesh with small pores mesh? 2. I have bought araldite epoxy resin with hardener shall I change it or use the same concerning the resistance of electrode? 3. My main problem is charging the supercap And calculating the capacitance you have used LM317 Voltage regulator chip with some diode and resistor I wanted to know what type of diode u have used and what type of resistor is that CAN YOU PLEASE SEND ME PHOTO OF CLEAR CONNECTION MADE FOR CIRCUIT FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING. 4.I Couldn't understand how u calculated the discharging time can u explain me a little clearly? And since I am doing ceramic engineering I thought of incorporating some ceramic dielectric materials in this supercap I'm thinking of using Titanium di oxide powder along with activated carbon to study the effect of it in increasing our decreasing the capacitance of supercap PLEASE SUGGEST ME WHETHER THIS WILL BE GOOD IDEA OR ELSE SHALL I USE SOME OTHER CERAMIC MATERIAL. "PLEASE PLEASE DO HELP ME THIS REGARD PLEASE REPLY ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE I'M EAGERLY WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY PLEASE SIR"

[@chemicum]

Hi, best suitable mesh has 1-3 mm holes. Araldite epoxy should work. Note that this epoxy technology only works if size of carbon particles is 1-3mm, it should be possible to coat these with TiO2 and test.

[@chemicum]

Ceramic2015 Au corrected formula is given in the text, there is mistake in the video. Just connect 5Ohm resistor and measure time when fully charged capacitor voltage drops half to initial value. LM317 voltage regulator scheme - google. Good luck, it is not easiest task, but nothing impossible either.

[@simulationknowledge7228]

chemicum what type of diode and variable resistor u have used and what's the thing connected to LM317 In Voltage regulator

[@chemicum]

The black thing in the middle is just socket. Diode is optional, can be omitted. Variable resistor should be 1 Ohm

[@simulationknowledge7228]

chemicum Thank you so much for your kind reply

[@ssjgogetta]

Would this work without epoxy?

[@chemicum]

theoretically, when it is under pressure in the final cell. But it is very difficult to assemble it uniformly.

[@ssjgogetta]

Thank you!

[@3xP10d3R]

awesome!!,, please make an explanation about the conections between the plates

[@chemicum]

electrodes? anodes are connected together and cathodes together

[@AhmedWissam]

that was very clever

[@bogartpablo]

How did you learn to build this when you were always late in attending chemistry class before you built the capacitor?

[@chemicum]

school chemistry was too easy anyway

[@daviddevuono7913]

they go that in-depth in highschool? this is collage grade stuff, or DIY "look it up on your own time" science. some reason people keep making invisible connections between knowledge and school. this is REAL education

[@chemicum]

yes, the development is complex, but the idea is so simple - just 2 carbon electrodes and hydroxide - that it is suitable science work for highschool students