Timothy S. Fisher - Böcker

This Brief reviews contemporary research conducted in university and industry laboratories on thermal management in electrochemical energy storage systems (capacitors and batteries) that have been widely used as power sources in many practical applications, such as automobiles, hybrid transport, renewable energy installations, power backup and electronic devices. Placing a particular emphasis on supercapacitors, the authors discuss how supercapacitors, or ultra capacitors, are complementing and  replacing, batteries because of their faster power delivery, longer life cycle and higher coulombic efficiency, while providing higher energy density than conventional electrolytic capacitors. Recent advances in both macro- and micro capacitor technologies are covered. The work facilitates systematic understanding of thermal transport in such devices that can help develop better power management systems.

These lecture notes provide a detailed treatment of the thermal energy storage and transport by conduction in natural and fabricated structures. Thermal energy in two carriers, i.e. phonons and electrons — are explored from first principles. For solid-state transport, a common Landauer framework is used for heat flow. Issues including the quantum of thermal conductance, ballistic interface resistance, and carrier scattering are elucidated. Bulk material properties, such as thermal and electrical conductivity, are derived from particle transport theories, and the effects of spatial confinement on these properties are established.