Supercapacitive properties of activated carbon electrode in potassium-polyacrylate hydrogel electrolytes

Abstract

To enhance the electrochemical performance, a conventional activated carbon supercapacitor is modified by adopting potassium-polyacrylate (PAAK) electrolyte additive on a glass fiber separator and by fabricating the activated carbon electrode on nickel foam instead of on conventional nickel foil as a current collector. The glass fiber separator plays the role of self-supporting PAAK-KOH hydrogel electrolyte with superior ionic conductivity. Moreover, the adoption of nickel foam strengthens the close contact between the active material and the current collector, reducing the interfacial resistance between electrode and electrolyte. As a result, the combination of glass fiber separator and nickel foam substrate can contribute to a great increase in the specific capacitance, to a value of over 200 F g−1, and to an enhancement of the high-rate capability of activated carbon supercapacitors.