Evaluation of carbon black produced with hydrogen by the liquid phase plasma method as a conductive material for the anode of a supercapacitor

Abstract

Carbon black is produced with H2 gas from a benzene solution using the liquid-phase precipitation (LPP) mathod. Subsequently, the carbon black is heat-treated and applied as a conductive material for a supercapacitor to evaluate its performance. Carbon black produced as primary particles by the LPP reaction aggregates and grows into a secondary structure, and then crystallizes through heat treatment to form multi-polygonal nanoshells. The electrical conductivity of carbon black increased by heat treatment, but when the temperature exceeded 1500 °C, the electrical conductivity rather decreased. Following heat treatment at 1500 °C, the electrode used as the conductive material exhibits the largest specific capacitance value and the smallest IR drop. As the carbon black produced via the LPP method exhibits better conductive properties than those of Super-P, the potential to use the present method as a new hydrogen production method is confirmed.