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Supercapacitors occupy the gap between high power/low energy electrolytic capacitors and low power/high energy rechargeable batteries. The energy W max (expressed in Joule) that can be stored in a capacitor is given by the formula This formula describes the amount of energy stored and is often used to describe new research successes.
The maximum capacitance that these capacitors can provide is 1 Farad. If the higher capacitance is required, the capacitors will need to be quite large, which may or may not fit into typical electronic circuits. Enter the supercapacitor.
Supercapacitors are suitable temporary energy storage devices for energy harvesting systems. In energy harvesting systems, the energy is collected from the ambient or renewable sources, e.g., mechanical movement, light or electromagnetic fields, and converted to electrical energy in an energy storage device.
Supercapacitors can therefore store 10 to 100 times more energy than electrolytic capacitors, but only one tenth as much as batteries. [citation needed] For reference, petrol fuel has a specific energy of 44.4 MJ/kg or 12 300 Wh/kg.
