Effect of carbon powder thermal activation on characteristics of supercapacitor electrodes

The capacitors are increasingly being used as energy storage devices in various power systems. The scientists of the world are trying to maximize the electrical capacity of the supercapacitors. This research aims to use plasma spray technology in order to develop carbon electrodes with carbon powder thermally treated in the temperatures ranging from 100 °C to 900 °C in the environment of argon gas. The BET research on primary carbon powder reveal that the largest surface area is obtained at 100 °C heating temperature - 577 m2/g, and at 900 °C - 507 m2/g. Meanwhile, at 300-700 °C heating temperatures the powder surface area decreases up to 2.2 times. The measurements of supercapacitor specific capacitance indicate that the largest values, 15 F/g and 8.7 F/g, were obtained when the respective specific surface area of primary powders equalled 577 m2/g and 261 m2/g.