Electrochemical behavior of high performance on-chip porous carbon films for micro-supercapacitors applications in organic electrolytes

Carbide derived carbons (CDCs) are promising materials for preparing integrated micro-supercapacitors, as on-chip CDC films are prepared via a process fully compatible with current silicon-based device technology. These films show good adherence on the substrate and high capacitance thanks to their unique nanoporous structure which can be fine-tuned by adjusting the synthesis parameters during chlorination of the metallic carbide precursor. The carbon porosity is mostly related to the synthesis temperature whereas the thickness of the films depends on the chlorination duration. Increasing the pore size allows the adsorption of large solvated ions from organic electrolytes and leads to higher energy densities. Here, we investigated the electrochemical behavior and performance of on-chip TiC-CDC in ionic liquid solvent mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIBF4) diluted in either acetonitrile or propylene carbonate via cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Thin CDC films exhibited typical capacitive signature and achieved 169 F cm−3 in both electrolytes; 65% of the capacitance was still delivered at 1 V s−1. While increasing the thickness of the films, EMI+ transport limitation was observed in more viscous PC-based electrolyte. Nevertheless, the energy density reached 90 μW h cm−2 in 2M EMIBF4/ACN, confirming the interest of these CDC films for micro-supercapacitors applications.