Plasma-Treated, Nitrogen-Doped Nanoporous Carbon Cloth for High-Performance Supercapacitors Applications

Abstract

Commonly used energy storage devices are majorly based on the commercial carbon cloth (CC) as a current collector due to its special features including ultra-low weights, three-dimensional (3D) structures, higher electrical conductivity with excellent porosities for the ion diffusion process. However, the poor compatibility and hydrophobic nature of the CC with the precursor solution and electrolyte is limiting the resultant electrochemical performance of the energy storage devices. To overcome this issue, in present work, we have developed the single step, facial nitrogen plasma method to induce nanostructuring over the CC, thereby significantly increasing the wettability and surface area of the CC, which both favourable for the facial electrochemical reactions. Morever, the plasma treatment induces the nitrogen doping on the surface of the CC allowed more electroactive species for electrochemical reactions. As a result, the nitrogen plasma treated CC (NCC) electrode shows excellent electrochemical feature for the supercapacitor application in the conventional potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte. The NCC shows the highest specific capacitance of the 741 mF/cm2 at a current density of 0.5 mA/cm2, which is much higher than that of the untreated carbon cloth. In addition to this, the NCC shows the excellent cycling stability for 5000 charge-discharge cycles without any loss which represent the best capabilities of the nitrogen-plasma process for CC functionalization. The presented innovative approach of plasma process for the functionalization of carbon cloth may offer the new way to design and develop highly efficient carbon-based electrodes for supercapacitor applications.