On April 21st, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) technical specification, IEC/TS 62565-5-2, Nanomanufacturing-Material Specifications-Part 5-2: Nano enabled electrode of electrical capacitor-Blank detail specification, was officially released. This technical specification was first proposed in 2018 by the Institute of Coal and Chemistry (ICC) and was approved in May 2020. Wang Zhenbing and Chen Chengmeng from ICC were the leader and deputy leader of this project. And Huang Xianhong from ICC was executively responsible for the project. The project team includes ten experts from China, Canada, Korea, Germany, and Russia. Comments and suggestions from IEC TC 113 members were widely collected during the developing, which is the fundamental of the high applicability and wide adoption.
Electrochemical capacitor (also called as supercapacitor) are widely used in the fields of electric vehicles, high speed trains, aircraft, photovoltaic, wind power and electronics, due to their ultra-fast charge/discharge capability, long cycle life, wide working temperature range, high security reliability and low maintenance cost. The ICC has carried out research on supercapacitor for more than ten years and constructed an industrial innovation chain of "material-device-application". ICC also works to localize the key electrode material, the nanoporous activated carbon. In order to evaluate the electrochemical performance of the material, a pilot test platform for supercapacitor was established. The testing data further give a suitable feedback and guide to the research, production and quality control of the material. The researchers in ICC have found that the preparation process and physical/chemical key control characteristics of the electrode can not only reflect the characteristics of raw material, but also directly determine the performance of supercapacitor devices. Therefore, the accurate characterization of the supercapacitor electrode is very important for the high-quality development of the entire industrial chain.
At present, the national and international standardization of the supercapacitor electrode are still blank, therefore it is urgent to develop standards and specification to guide the development. Based on this needs, the researchers in ICC proposed the first material specification of the supercapacitor electrode through research accumulation, extensive and in-depth communications with the industry, and systematic research on scientific reports and standard documents. The specification declares the chemical, physical, structural and electrochemical key control characteristics of the electrode and the corresponding test methods.
The release of this standard will provide guidance for unifying the concept of supercapacitor electrode, standardizing the production process, establishing the product specifications, promote the industrial technical communications and technical cooperation in related fields. It also provide standard support for eliminating the trade barriers. At the same time, this document is the first international standard for the electrode of supercapacitor, which fills the blank in international standardization. It also introduces the concept of supercapacitor to IEC TC 113 (Technical committee of nanotechnology for electrotechnical products and systems), so it’s the beginning of the standardization work in this field at IEC TC 113. This technical specification enhanced China's international influence in this field.
