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KOH-activated depleted fullerene soot for electrochemical double-layer capacitors

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Abstract

Nanostructured activated carbons for electrochemical double-layer capacitors were synthesized from depleted fullerene soot (DFS) via KOH activation. The structural and textural properties of the activated DFS were studied using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and nitrogen sorption. Activated DFS with high specific surface areas (SSAs) of up to 2,153 m2 g−1 and narrow pore size distributions (PSDs) was obtained by controlling the KOH/DFS ratio. The activated DFS exhibited excellent capacitive behavior, with a high specific capacitance of 250 F g−1 at a current density of 50 mA g−1 in a 6 M KOH electrolyte, and a high rate performance, with a capacitance retention of up to 80 % at a high scan rate of 200 mV s−1. Moreover, the activated DFS samples exhibited good electrochemical stability; high capacitance retention ratios of >90 % were obtained at a current density of 2,000 mA g−1 for 5,000 cycles with cell voltages of 0.9 and 1.0 V in a two-electrode system. The high electrochemical performance can be attributed to high SSAs, narrow PSDs, and nanoscale particle sizes, which facilitate the formation of electrochemical double layers and rapid ion diffusion.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 20836002, 21003016, 21276045), the Dalian Science and Technology Bureau of China (No. 2011A15GX023), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 20100481227).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carbon Research Laboratory, Liaoning Key Lab for Energy Materials and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Li Sun, Chunlei Wang, Ying Zhou, Xu Zhang & Jieshan Qiu

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  1. Li Sun
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  2. Chunlei Wang
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  3. Ying Zhou
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Correspondence to Ying Zhou or Jieshan Qiu.

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Sun, L., Wang, C., Zhou, Y. et al. KOH-activated depleted fullerene soot for electrochemical double-layer capacitors. J Appl Electrochem 44, 309–316 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-013-0636-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-013-0636-0

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