Enhanced energy density of carbon-based supercapacitors using Cerium (III) sulphate as inorganic redox electrolyte

The energy density of carbon based supercapacitors (CBSCs) was significantly increased by the addition of an inorganic redox species [Ce2(SO4)3] to an aqueous electrolyte (H2SO4). The development of the faradaic processes on the positive electrode not only significantly increased the capacitance but...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Díaz Baizán, Patricia, González Arias, Zoraida, Santamaría Ramírez, Ricardo, Granda Ferreira, Marcos, Menéndez López, Rosa María, Blanco Rodríguez, Clara
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::b22f520c66137fc3ae7e7876320e7015
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/114341
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Hybrid supercapacitor
Redox electrolyte
Operational voltage
Energy density
Power density
Descripción
Sumario:The energy density of carbon based supercapacitors (CBSCs) was significantly increased by the addition of an inorganic redox species [Ce2(SO4)3] to an aqueous electrolyte (H2SO4). The development of the faradaic processes on the positive electrode not only significantly increased the capacitance but also the operational cell voltage of these devices (up to 1.5 V) due to the high redox potentials at which the Ce3+/Ce4+ reactions occur. Therefore, in asymmetric CBSCs assembled using an activated carbon as negative electrode and MWCNTs as the positive one, the addition of Ce2(SO4)3 moderately increases the energy density of the device (from 1.24 W h kg−1 to 5.08 W h kg−1). When a modified graphite felt is used as positive electrode the energy density of the cell reaches values as high as 13.84 W h kg−1. The resultant systems become asymmetric hybrid devices where energy is stored due to the electrical double layer formation in the negative electrode and the development of the faradaic process in the positive electrode, which acts as a battery-type electrode.