Preparation and electrochemical performance of activated carbon thin films with polyethylene oxide-salt addition for electrochemical capacitor applications

The effect of polymer-salt addition in the activated carbon electrode for electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) has been investigated. A series of composite thin film electrode consisting of activated carbon, carbon black, polytetrafluoroethylene and polymer-salt complex (polyethyleneoxide-LiClO4) with an appropriate weight ratio were prepared and examined their performance for EDLCs using 1 mol L-1 LiClO4 in ethylene carbonate:diethylcarbonate electrolyte solution. The electrochemical capacitance performances of these electrodes with different compositions were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling, and AC impedance measurements. By comparison, the best results were obtained with a composite electrode rich in polymer-salt additive (132 F g(-1) at 100 mA g(-1) of galvanostatic experiment). In general, the polymer-salt-containing electrode had shown improved performance over activated carbon electrodes without polymer-salt at high current density.