The effects of Total Ionizing Dose irradiation on supercapacitors deployed in nuclear decommissioning environments

The effects of Total Ionizing Dose (TID) on electrical components is a key parameter to evaluate the life span of wireless sensor nodes for possible deployment in nuclear decommissioning environments. The aim of this study was to experimentally evaluate the effects of TID on capacitance, internal resistance and the self-discharge characteristic of 100 F supercapacitors. An automated test circuit was designed and assembled to charge and discharge the supercapacitors. The supercapacitors were irradiated using a Co-60 γ ray radiation source and the voltage across the supercapacitor terminals, charging current and discharging current were monitored and logged to calculate the capacitance during the irradiation process. Measurements of internal resistance and self-discharge characteristic were performed before and after the irradiation to examine the effects of exposure to γ radiation on these electrical properties. The experimental results show negligible effects on the capacitance of supercapacitors exposed to a maximum dose of 40 kGy. The internal resistance and self-discharge characteristics were not affected by TID up to 89 kGy. These results demonstrate that supercapacitors are a suitable technology to design an Energy Storage System to be deployed in the majority of nuclear decommissioning environments.