Glacial acetic acid catalysed carbon aerogels as electrode material in the electrical double-layer capacitor

Abstract

Carbon aerogels, synthesised by sol–gel polymerisation of resorcinol with formaldehyde using glacial acetic acid as a catalyst and then activated with KOH, were used as an electrode material in an electrical double-layer capacitor. The solvent exchange process of the wet gel was carried out with acetone to reduce as much as possible the shrinkage during the drying process in the vacuum oven. The characteristic properties were investigated by FTIR, XRD and BET. The electrochemical properties of carbon aerogel electrodes were measured by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements. The highest specific capacitance of activated carbon aerogel electrode was obtained to be 280 F g−1 in 6 M KOH electrolyte at the current of 1 A g−1.