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Title: High capacitance of coarse-grained carbide derived carbon electrodes

Journal Article · · Journal of Power Sources

Here, we report exceptional electrochemical properties of supercapacitor electrodes composed of large, granular carbide-derived carbon (CDC) particles. We synthesized 70–250 μm sized particles with high surface area and a narrow pore size distribution, using a titanium carbide (TiC) precursor. Electrochemical cycling of these coarse-grained powders defied conventional wisdom that a small particle size is strictly required for supercapacitor electrodes and allowed high charge storage densities, rapid transport, and good rate handling ability. Moreover, the material showcased capacitance above 100 F g-1 at sweep rates as high as 250 mV s-1 in organic electrolyte. 250–1000 micron thick dense CDC films with up to 80 mg cm-2 loading showed superior areal capacitances. The material significantly outperformed its activated carbon counterpart in organic electrolytes and ionic liquids. Furthermore, large internal/external surface ratio of coarse-grained carbons allowed the resulting electrodes to maintain high electrochemical stability up to 3.1 V in ionic liquid electrolyte. In addition to presenting novel insights into the electrosorption process, these coarse-grained carbons offer a pathway to low-cost, high-performance implementation of supercapacitors in automotive and grid-storage applications.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport Center (FIRST)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1265883
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1398127
Journal Information:
Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 306, Issue C; ISSN 0378-7753
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 56 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

From Ionogels to Biredox Ionic Liquids: Some Emerging Opportunities for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Devices journal September 2017
Blue Energy and Desalination with Nanoporous Carbon Electrodes: Capacitance from Molecular Simulations to Continuous Models journal April 2018
The effect of finite pore length on ion structure and charging journal September 2017
Preparation of Composite Monolith Supercapacitor Electrode Made from Textile-Grade Polyacrylonitrile Fibers and Phenolic Resin journal February 2020
Scalable Production of Graphene Inks via Wet‐Jet Milling Exfoliation for Screen‐Printed Micro‐Supercapacitors journal February 2019
The effect of finite pore length on ion structure and charging text January 2019
Scalable production of graphene inks via wet-jet milling exfoliation for screen-printed micro-supercapacitors text January 2019
Tracking ionic fluxes in porous carbon electrodes from aqueous electrolyte mixture at various pH journal August 2018
Anthraquinone modification of microporous carbide derived carbon films for on-chip micro-supercapacitors applications journal August 2017
Electrochemical capacitors operating in aqueous electrolyte with volumetric characteristics improved by sustainable templating of electrode materials journal April 2020
Electrochemical behavior of high performance on-chip porous carbon films for micro-supercapacitors applications in organic electrolytes journal October 2016

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