Ruthenium doped carbon aerogel with CO2 surface activation for enhanced electrochemical capacitance

With the aim of enhancement of electrochemical capacitance, CO2 activation of carbon aerogel (CA) prepared by polycondensation of resorcinol with formaldehyde was performed to obtain activated carbon aerogel (ACA) having improved surface area properties. Ruthenium oxide nano-particles were loaded by impregnation method for utilizing pseudo-capacitive property of ruthenium oxide (RuO2) and the effect of activation treatment was studied. RuO2 loading of 20% by weight was accomplished in CA and ACA to synthesize RuO2 doped carbon aerogel (CA/RuO2) and activated carbon aerogel (ACA/RuO2). While the specific capacitance of carbon aerogel improved from 95 to 153 F/g on activation, RuO2 loading further led to enhancement in capacitance and specific capacitance of 308 F/g was obtained for ACA/RuO2. The studies being important for Ru economy, showed the influence of surface area enhancement of base matrix in achieving high specific capacitance.