Electrochemical Processing of Commercial Carbon Cloth for Supercapacitor Applications

Commercial carbon cloth was activated through a cathodic route in neutral electrolyte. The resulting specimen, electrochemically reduced carbon cloth (ER-CC), can be directly used as an electrode for supercapacitors without using polymeric binder, conductive additive, or current collector. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the cathodic polarization reduces the oxygen functional groups involved in the surface of CC, depending on the applied potential. The maximum areal capacitance was observed for the ER-CC piece that had been polarized at -0.8 V (vs Ag/AgCl); i.e., 143 mF cm(-2) at a scan rate of 2 mV s(-1).