Contribution of Dielectric Screening to the Total Capacitance of Few-Layer Graphene Electrodes

We apply joint density functional theory (JDFT), which treats the electrode/electrolyte interface self-consistently, to an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) based on few-layer graphene electrodes. The JDFT approach allows us to quantify a third contribution to the total capacitance beyond quantum capacitance (C-Q) and EDL capacitance (C-EDL). This contribution arises from the dielectric screening of the electric field by the surface of the few-layer graphene electrode, and we therefore term it the dielectric capacitance (C-Dielec). We find that C-Dielec becomes significant in affecting the total capacitance when the number of graphene layers in the electrode is more than three. Our investigation sheds new light on the significance of the electrode dielectric screening on the capacitance of few-layer graphene electrodes.