High Mass Loading Asymmetric Micro-supercapacitors with Ultrahigh Areal Energy and Power Density.

Abstract

High mass loading asymmetric micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) are key components for the development of high-performance energy and power supply systems. Here, a concept for achieving high mass loading electrodes is presented and applied to high mass loading micro-supercapacitors with ultrahigh areal energy and power density. The positive electrode is made from porous carbon with birnessite coverage and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as conducting additives (PIC-CNTs-MnO2). The negative electrode is prepared from hierarchically porous active carbon mixed with CNTs (PICK-CNTs). Both positive and negative electrode materials are tailored to ensure a high content of macro- and mesopores. MSCs with an optimized mass loading of 13.9 mg·cm-2 (maximum: 23.6 mg·cm-2) provide an ultrahigh areal capacitance of 1.13 F·cm-2 (volumetric capacitance: 22.6 F·cm-3), an outstanding energy of 627.8 μWh·cm-2, and a maximum power density of 64 mW·cm-2. About 85% of the initial capacitance remained after 5000 cycles. Moreover, shunt and tandem device testing confirmed a high uniformity of these MSCs, meeting the requirements of adjustable output currents and voltages in microchips.