Activated carbon aerogel as electrode material for coin-type EDLC cell in organic electrolyte

•Carbon aerogel was activated with KOH to obtain activated carbon aerogel.•Coin-type EDLC cells with two symmetrical carbon electrodes were assembled.•Activated carbon aerogel served as an excellent electrode material for EDLC.•Activation with KOH was a good way to improve capacitance of carbon aerogel.

Carbon aerogel (CA) was prepared by a carbonization of resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) polymer gels, and it was chemically activated with KOH to obtain activated carbon aerogel (ACA) for electrode material for EDLC in organic electrolyte. Coin-type EDLC cells with two symmetrical carbon electrode were assembled using the prepared carbon materials. Electrochemical performance of the carbon electrodes was measured by galvanostatic charge/discharge and cyclic voltammetry methods. Activated carbon aerogel (20.9 F/g) showed much higher specific capacitance than carbon aerogel (7.9 F/g) and commercial activated carbon (8.5 F/g) at a scan rate of 100 mV/s. This indicates that chemical activation with KOH served as an efficient method to improve electrochemical performance of carbon aerogel for EDLC electrode in organic electrolyte. The enhanced electrochemical performance of activated carbon aerogel was attributed to the high effective surface area and the well-developed pore structure with appropriate pore size obtained from activation with KOH.

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