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High performance activated carbon anodes for supercapacitors for energy storage applications / THOMAS FONE

Swansea University Author: THOMAS FONE

  • E-Thesis under embargo until: 17th March 2026

Abstract

This work presents the optimisation of an activated carbon ink using Ethyl Cellulose as a binder for application as electrodes in supercapacitors. Effect of variation in the concentration of Ethyl Cellulose binder was explored adopting a commercially available Activated carbon as reference. The resu...

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Published: Swansea, Wales, UK 2023
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Master of Research
Degree name: MSc by Research
Supervisor: Deganello, Davide
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63240
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Abstract: This work presents the optimisation of an activated carbon ink using Ethyl Cellulose as a binder for application as electrodes in supercapacitors. Effect of variation in the concentration of Ethyl Cellulose binder was explored adopting a commercially available Activated carbon as reference. The result was that the 10% EC concentration led to the best performance compared to the 20% and 5% EC inks, with a specific capacitance of 62.3F/g at 1.4A/g. It was hypothesised that the 20% EC ink had too much binder, potentially clogging up the pores in the activated carbon, while the 5% EC ink did not have enough binder, causing decohesion of the ink from the substrate, which severely limited the performance of the electrode. As part of the work, a special carbon provided by the sponsoring company was also tested using the same 10% EC recipe only substituting the new carbon instead of the commercial one. Particle size analysis of this carbon showed that the particles had a larger disparity of sizes compared to the commercial activated carbon. This new carbon gave a better result of 82.7F/g at 1.4A/g even with the particle size disparity.
Keywords: Supercapacitor, Ultracapacitor, Activated Carbon
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: EPSRC, Enserv Power