Reversible Heating in Electric Double Layer Capacitors.

A detailed comparison is made between different viewpoints on reversible heating in electric double layer capacitors. We show in the limit of slow charging that a combined Poisson-Nernst-Planck and heat equation, first studied by d'Entremont and Pilon [J. Power Sources 246, 887 (2014)JPSODZ0378-775310.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.08.024], recovers the temperature changes as predicted by the thermodynamic identity of Janssen et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 268501 (2014)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.113.268501], and disagrees with the approximative model of Schiffer et al. [J. Power Sources 160, 765 (2006)JPSODZ0378-775310.1016/j.jpowsour.2005.12.070] that predominates the literature. The thermal response to the adiabatic charging of supercapacitors contains information on electric double layer formation that has remained largely unexplored.