Correlation of energy storage performance of supercapacitor with iso-propanol improved wettability of aqueous electrolyte on activated carbon electrodes of various apparent densities

Denys G. Gromadskyi, Jung H. Chae, Stuart A. Norman and George Z. Chen

Applied Energy, 2015, vol. 159, issue C, 39-50

Abstract: Addition of iso-propanol in the aqueous electrolyte of 1.0mol/L Na2SO4 was found to be most effective at about 8vol.% to minimise electrolyte surface tension, and hence maximise electrolyte wetting on a commercial supercapacitor grade activated carbon powder. The wetting improvement was further studied on die-pressed cylindrical thin pellets of polytetrafluoroethylene bonded activated carbon powder at three different apparent densities (0.70, 0.55 and 0.35g/cm3) using adsorption isotherm, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Enhanced charge storage performance of the activated carbon at 0.70 and 0.55g/cm3 in apparent density was observed in electrolyte containing iso-propanol. The effect of iso-propanol became more prominent at high polarisation potentials. However, at the lowest density (0.35g/cm3) studied, the capacitance decreased in the presence of iso-propanol, which can be attributed to the iso-propanol molecules entering the nano-pores of the activated carbon particles. In symmetrical supercapacitors with the dense activated carbon electrodes, addition of iso-propanol to the aqueous electrolyte increased the cell voltage, specific energy and maximum specific power from 1.5 to 2.0V, 7.34 to 12.44Wh/kg, and 3.96 to 12.35kW/kg, respectively, under comparable conditions.

Keywords: Energy storage; Supercapacitor; Activated carbon; Aqueous electrolyte; Iso-propanol; Wettability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.08.108

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