The power capacitors used as vehicle inverters must have a small size, high capacitance, high voltage, fast response and wide operating temperature. Our thin film capacitor was fabricated by alumina layers as a dielectric material and a metal electrode instead of a liquid electrolyte in an aluminum electrolytic capacitor. We analyzed the micro structures and the electrical properties of the thin film capacitors fabricated by nano-channel alumina and metal electrodes. The metal electrode was filled into the alumina nano-channel by electroless nickel plating with polyethylene glycol and a palladium catalyst. The spherical metals were formed inside the alumina nano pores. The breakdown voltage and leakage current increased by the chemical reaction of the alumina layer and PdCl2 solution. The thickness of the electroless plated nickel layer was 300 nm. We observed the nano pores in the interface between the alumina layer and the metal electrode. The alumina capacitors with nickel electrodes had a capacitance density of 100 nF/cm2, dielectric loss of 0.01, breakdown voltage of 0.7MV/cm and leakage current of 104μA.

Activated carbon (AC) with very large surface area has high capacitance per weight. However, such activation methods tend to suffer from low yields, below 50%, and are low in electrode density and capacitance per volume. Carbon NanoFibers (CNFs) had high surface area polarizability, high electrical conductivity and chemical stability, as well as extremely high mechanical strength and modulus, which make them an important material for electrochemical capacitors. The electrochemical properties of immobilized CNF electrodes were studied for use as in electrical double layer capacitor (EDLC) applications. Immobilized CNFs on Ni foam grown by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) were successfully fabricated. CNFs had a uniform diameter range from 50 to 60 nm. Surface area was 56 m2/g. CNF electrodes were compared with AC and multi wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) electrodes. The electrochemical performance of the various electrodes was examined with aqueous electrolyte of 2M KOH. Equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the CNF electrodes was lower than that of AC and MWNT electrodes. The specific capacitance of 47.5 F/g of the CNF electrodes was achieved with discharge current density of 1 mA/cm2.