Detailed analysis of the self-discharge of supercapacitors

Self-discharge is an important performance factor when using supercapacitors. Voltage losses in the range of 5–60% occur over two weeks. Experiments show a dependency of the self-discharge rate on various parameters such as temperature, charge duration and short-term history. In this paper, self-discharge of three commercially available supercapacitors was measured under various conditions. Based on different measurements, the impact of the influence factors is identified. A simple model to explain parts of the voltage decay is presented.