Spark plasma sintered carbon electrodes for electrical double layer capacitor applications

• Published in: Journal of power sources Vol. 196; no. 3; pp. 1620 - 1625
• Main Authors: Daffos, B., Chevallier, G., Estournès, C., Simon, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.02.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Capacitors. Resistors. Filters; Chemical Sciences; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Energy; Energy storage; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Material chemistry; Microporous carbon; Spark plasma sintering; Supercapacitors; Transport and storage of energy; Various equipment and components; Supercapacitors; Spark plasma sintering; Microporous carbon; Energy storage; Plasma; Carbon electrode; Electrolytic capacitor; Carbon; Porous material; Microporosity; Spark discharge; Supercapacitor; Double layers
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2010.08.098

The spark plasma sintering (SPS) is an emerging process for shaping any type of materials (metals, ceramic, polymers and their composites). The advantage of such a process is to prepare densified ceramic materials in a very short time, while keeping the materials internal porosity. In the present work, we have used the SPS technique to prepare activated carbon-based electrodes for Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitor applications (EDLC). Self-supported 600 and 300 μm-thick electrodes were prepared and characterized using of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and galvanostatic cycling in a non-aqueous 1.5 M NEt 4BF 4 in acetonitrile electrolyte. Electrochemical performance of these sintered electrodes were found to be in the same range – or even slightly better – than the conventional tape-casted activated carbon electrodes. Although organic liquid electrolyte was used to characterize the electrochemical performance of the sintered electrodes, these results demonstrate that the SPS technique could be worth of interest in the ultimate goal of designing solid-state supercapacitors.