Energy and power performance of electrochemical double-layer capacitors based on molybdenum carbide derived carbon

Cyclic voltammetry, constant current charge/discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy have been applied to establish the electrochemical characteristics for electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) consisting of the 1 M (C2H5)3CH3NBF4 electrolyte in acetonitrile and micro/mesoporous carbon electrodes prepared from Mo2C, noted as C(Mo2C). The N2 sorption (total BET specific surface area (SBET ≤ 1855 m2 g−1), micropore area (Smicro ≤ 1823 m2 g−1), total pore volume (Vtot ≤ 1.399 m3 g−1) and pore size distribution (average NLDFT pore width dNLDFT ≥ 0.89 nm) values obtained have been correlated with the electrochemical characteristics for EDLCs (region of ideal polarizability (ΔV = 3.0 V), characteristic time constant (τR = 1.05 s), gravimetric capacitance (Cm ≤ 143 F g−1)) dependent strongly on the C(Mo2C) synthesis temperature. High gravimetric energy (35 Wh kg−1) and gravimetric power (237 kW kg−1) values, normalised to the total active mass of both C(Mo2C) electrodes, synthesised at Tsynt = 800 °C, have been demonstrated at cell voltage 3.0 V and T = 20 °C.