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Title: Boosting the Performance of Ionic-Liquid-Based Supercapacitors with Polar Additives

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed growing interests in both the fundamentals and applications of electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), also known as supercapacitors. A number of strategies have been explored to optimize the device performance in terms of both the energy and power densities. Because the properties of electric double layers (EDL) are sensitive to ion distributions in the close vicinity of the electrode surfaces, the supercapacitor performance is sensitive to both the electrode pore structure and the electrolyte composition. In this work, we study the effects of polar additives on EDLC capacitance using the classical density functional theory within the framework of a coarse-grained model for the microscopic structure of the porous electrodes and room-temperature ionic liquids. The theoretical results indicate that a highly polar, low-molecular-weight additive is able to drastically increase the EDLC capacitance at low bulk concentration. Additionally, the additive is able to dampen the oscillatory dependence of the capacitance on the pore size, thereby boosting the performance of amorphous electrode materials. The theoretical predictions are directly testable with experiments and provide new insights into the additive effects on EDL properties.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport Center (FIRST)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1388649
Grant/Contract Number:  
ERKCC61; AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Physical Chemistry. C
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 120; Journal Issue: 42; Related Information: FIRST partners with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (lead); Argonne National Laboratory; Drexel University; Georgia State University; Northwestern University; Pennsylvania State University; Suffolk University; Vanderbilt University; University of Virginia; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-7447
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; catalysis (heterogeneous); solar (fuels); energy storage (including batteries and capacitors); hydrogen and fuel cells; electrodes - solar; mechanical behavior; charge transport; materials and chemistry by design; synthesis (novel materials)

Citation Formats

Liu, Kun, and Wu, Jianzhong. Boosting the Performance of Ionic-Liquid-Based Supercapacitors with Polar Additives. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b09161.
Liu, Kun, & Wu, Jianzhong. Boosting the Performance of Ionic-Liquid-Based Supercapacitors with Polar Additives. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b09161
Liu, Kun, and Wu, Jianzhong. Tue . "Boosting the Performance of Ionic-Liquid-Based Supercapacitors with Polar Additives". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b09161. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1388649.
@article{osti_1388649,
title = {Boosting the Performance of Ionic-Liquid-Based Supercapacitors with Polar Additives},
author = {Liu, Kun and Wu, Jianzhong},
abstractNote = {Recent years have witnessed growing interests in both the fundamentals and applications of electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), also known as supercapacitors. A number of strategies have been explored to optimize the device performance in terms of both the energy and power densities. Because the properties of electric double layers (EDL) are sensitive to ion distributions in the close vicinity of the electrode surfaces, the supercapacitor performance is sensitive to both the electrode pore structure and the electrolyte composition. In this work, we study the effects of polar additives on EDLC capacitance using the classical density functional theory within the framework of a coarse-grained model for the microscopic structure of the porous electrodes and room-temperature ionic liquids. The theoretical results indicate that a highly polar, low-molecular-weight additive is able to drastically increase the EDLC capacitance at low bulk concentration. Additionally, the additive is able to dampen the oscillatory dependence of the capacitance on the pore size, thereby boosting the performance of amorphous electrode materials. The theoretical predictions are directly testable with experiments and provide new insights into the additive effects on EDL properties.},
doi = {10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b09161},
journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry. C},
number = 42,
volume = 120,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Oct 18 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Oct 18 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Cited by: 32 works
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