A capacitor that is capable of exhibiting good electrical properties under a wide variety of different conditions is provided. The capacitor contains a capacitor element that includes a sintered porous anode body, a dielectric that overlies the anode body, and a solid electrolyte that overlies the dielectric and includes a conductive polymer. The capacitor also contains multiple anode lead portions that extend from ends of the capacitor element. The capacitor further comprises a housing that defines an interior cavity within which the capacitor element is positioned and hermetically sealed.

A capacitor that comprises a capacitor element is provided. The capacitor element comprises a deoxidized and sintered anode body that is formed from a powder having a specific charge of about 35,000 ?F*V/g or more. Further, a dielectric overlies the anode body and a solid electrolyte overlies the dielectric. The capacitor also exhibits a normalized aged leakage current of about 0.1% or less.

An improved formation electrolyte suitable for formation of an oxide on a valve metal anode and an improved capacitor comprising an oxide formed in the formation electrolyte is provided. The formation electrolyte comprises a derivative of inositol is defined by Formula 1:

##STR00001## wherein: each of R.sup.1-R.sup.6 is defined.

A capacitor case sealed to retain electrolyte; a sintered anode disposed in the capacitor case, the sintered anode having a shape wherein the sintered anode includes a mating portion; a conductor coupled to the sintered anode, the conductor sealingly extending through the capacitor case to a terminal disposed on an exterior of the capacitor case; a sintered cathode disposed in the capacitor case, the sintered cathode having a shape that mates with the mating portion of the sintered anode such that the sintered cathode matingly fits in the mating portion of the sintered anode; a separator between the sintered anode and the sintered cathode; and a second terminal disposed on the exterior of the capacitor case and in electrical communication with the sintered cathode, with the terminal and the second terminal electrically isolated from one another.

A method for providing a tantalum powder with a piece+block structure, comprising the following steps: 1) providing a granulous tantalum powder, and dividing same into a first part and a second part; 2) putting the first part of the tantalum powder in a ball mill for ball milling, taking the powder out after the ball milling and sieving same, and obtaining a tantalum powder in the form of a piece; 3) mixing the tantalum powder in the form of a piece and the second part of the tantalum powder to obtain a mixture, and preferably, the mixing proportion of the tantalum powder in the form of a piece and the granulous tantalum powder being 1:0.11, preferably being 1:0.250.8, and more preferably being 1:0.40.6; and 4) performing the steps of water washing, acid washing, and nodularization on the mixture to finally obtain a tantalum powder with a piece+block structure.

An improved capacitor is described herein. The capacitor comprises a working element wherein the working element comprises an anode comprising a dielectric thereon and an anode conductive polymer layer on the dielectric. The capacitor also includes a cathode comprising a cathode conductive polymer layer and a conductive separator between the anode and said cathode. An anode lead is in electrical contact with the anode and a cathode lead is in electrical contact with the cathode.

A capacitor assembly for use in high voltage and high temperature environments is provided. More particularly, the capacitor assembly includes a capacitor element containing an anodically oxidized porous, sintered body that is coated with a manganese oxide solid electrolyte. To help facilitate the use of the capacitor assembly in high voltage (e.g., above about 35 volts) and high temperature (e.g., above about 175? C.) applications, the capacitor element is enclosed and hermetically sealed within a housing in the presence of a gaseous atmosphere that contains an inert gas. It is believed that the housing and inert gas atmosphere are capable of limiting the amount of moisture supplied to the manganese dioxide. In this manner, the solid electrolyte is less likely to undergo an adverse reaction under extreme conditions, thus increasing the thermal stability of the capacitor assembly. In addition to functioning well in both high voltage and high temperature environments, the capacitor assembly of the present invention may also exhibit a high volumetric efficiency.

An energy-storage device is formed from a first and a second yarn, each yarn including a plurality of nanowires including aluminum and/or a transition metal. An anode pad is in contact with the first yarn and a cathode pad is in contact with the second yarn. Alternatively, first and second metallic electrodes may be disposed substantially in parallel, with pluralities of nanowires including aluminum and/or a transition metal extending therefrom. In another embodiment, a supercapacitor may include a niobium yarn including a plurality of niobium nanowires. Each niobium nanowire may include at least (i) a first section comprising at least one of unoxidized niobium and niobium oxide; (ii) a second section comprises a niobium pentoxide layer; and (iii) a third section comprises a layer formed by dipping the niobium nanowire in at least one of a conductive polymer and a liquid metal.

A capacitor having at least two side-by-side anodes with a cathode current collector disposed between the anodes and housed inside a casing is described. Cathode active material is supported on the opposed major faces of the current collector and the current collector/cathode active material subassembly is housed in a first separator envelope. The first separator envelope is positioned between the side-by-side anodes and this electrode assembly is then contained in a second separator envelope. The two anodes can be connected in parallel inside or outside casing, or they can be unconnected to each other. There is also cathode active material supported on inner surfaces of the casing in a face-to-face alignment with an adjacent one of the anodes. That way, the second separator envelope also prevents direct physical contact between the anode pellets and the cathode active material supported on the casing sidewalls.

A tantalum capacitor includes a capacitor body containing tantalum powder, having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and including a plurality of tantalum wires spaced apart from each other in a long axis direction of the rectangular parallelepiped shape and protruding from one side surface thereof perpendicular to the long axis direction; a conductive layer provided on one side surface of the capacitor body to be spaced apart from the tantalum wires; a sealing part enclosing the tantalum wires, the conductive layer, and the capacitor body and allowing end portions of the tantalum wires and a surface of the conductive layer to be exposed by the sealing part; an anode terminal provided on one side surface of the sealing part; and a cathode terminal provided on one side surface of the sealing part.