Electronic – Supercapacitor and an applied exterior magnetic field

capacitorelectromagneticelectromagnetismsupercapacitor

I'm curious of the effects of an exterior magnetic field to a Supercapacitor, in both states of charging & discharging.

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If the Supercap. is placed inside an area where an exterior magnetic field \$B_{ext}\$ is applied, while the capacitor is charged, and connected to a load, would the +/- ions move quicker(since the electrostatic force would push like charges away + the Lorentz force) from the double layer towards the electrolyte?

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Likewise, for the case of charging, would the ions feel a force(Lorentz) while moving towards the electrode to form the double layer from their initial positions from the electrolyte?

Finally, if I moved the Supercap. in any state(charged/discharged) would the ions feel a Lorentz force(depending on \$v_{SC}\$)?

The exterior magnetic field can be in any direction \$B_{ext}\$ = \$B\hat{i}\$ , \$B\hat{j}\$ , \$B\hat{z}\$

Best Answer

If the Supercap is placed inside an area where an exterior magnetic field Bext is applied, while the capacitor is charged, and connected to a load, would the +/- ions move quicker(since the electrostatic force would push like charges away + the Lorentz force) from the double layer towards the electrolyte?

Notice that the Lorentz force is perpendicular to both the magnetic field and the direction of the charges' movement. So, will charges travelling through the magnetic field experience Lorentz force? - Yes, but only one perpendicular to their own motion, so charging/discharging rate is not increased by a static magnetic field (otherwise, you'd be violating ยง1 of thermodynamics). It might even decrease a little because the electrons may have to travel further because they are deflected from the shortest path.

Many capacitors (from electrolyte to "Ultra-Caps") are made by spooling sheets of electrode materials around a center rod, which means that the Lorentz forces in most directions will cancel each other out almost completely. (The electrons travel along the spool on almost circular paths experiencing a Lorentz force in one direction on one half of a circle and a force in the opposite direction on the other half.)