Grape seed carbons for studying the influence of texture on supercapacitor behaviour in aqueous electrolytes

Microporous carbon materials having a negligible contribution of mesopores have been synthesised by cyclic oxidation/desorption of grape seeds char using air, ozone and HNO3 as oxidant agents. By adequate selection of the operating conditions (oxidation procedure and number of cycles), it is possible to tune the volume and pore size distribution (PSD) of carbon materials and therefore determine the influence of carbon textural properties on the electrochemical behaviour of carbon-carbon symmetric supercapacitors operating in different aqueous electrolytes. The results confirm that although energy density can be improved using neutral electrolytes because of their higher stability potential window compared to acidic or basic electrolytes, it is important to adapt the textural properties of the carbon materials to improve the ions' diffusion inside the porosity for assuring the charging of the double layer at high current densities to reach high power densitiesThe authors greatly appreciate the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CTQ2009-09983

Solvent-free ionic liquids as in situ probes for assessing the effect of ion size on the performance of electrical double layer capacitors

The authors thank Norit for kindly supplying the activated carbon adsorbent. COA thanks MEC, Spain, for the financial support (EX2004-0612). Poznań University of Technology is also acknowledged (Project DS 32/007/2005). The help of Dr. Parra with the Modelling Software and of Dr. Khomenko in the conductivity measurements is acknowledged.Peer reviewe

Dense carbon monoliths for supercapacitors with outstanding volumetric capacitances

A commercially available dense carbon monolith (CM) and four carbon monoliths obtained from it have been studied as electrochemical capacitor electrodes in a two-electrode cell. CM has: (i) very high density (1.17 g cm−3), (ii) high electrical conductivity (9.3 S cm−1), (iii) well-compacted and interconnected carbon spheres, (iv) homogeneous microporous structure and (v) apparent BET surface area of 957 m2g−1. It presents interesting electrochemical behaviors (e.g., excellent gravimetric capacitance and outstanding volumetric capacitance). The textural characteristics of CM (porosity and surface chemistry) have been modified by means of different treatments. The electrochemical performances of the starting and treated monoliths have been analyzed as a function of their porous textures and surface chemistry, both on gravimetric and volumetric basis. The monoliths present high specific and volumetric capacitances (292 F g−1 and 342 F cm−3), high energy densities (38 Wh kg−1 and 44 Wh L−1), and high power densities (176 W kg−1 and 183 W L−1). The specific and volumetric capacitances, especially the volumetric capacitance, are the highest ever reported for carbon monoliths. The high values are achieved due to a suitable combination of density, electrical conductivity, porosity and oxygen surface content.Financial support from projects MAT2011-25198, MP1004 and PROMETEO/2009/047 is gratefully acknowledged. V.B. thanks MINECO for R&C contract

Effect of different carbon materials as electron shuttles in the anaerobic biotransformation of nitroanilines

Aromatic amines resulted from azo dyes biotransformation under anaerobic conditions are generally recalcitrant to further anaerobic degradation. The catalytic effect of carbon materials (CM) on the reduction of azo dyes is known and has been confirmed in this work by increasing 3-fold the biological reduction rate of Mordant Yellow 1 (MY1). The resulting m-nitroaniline (m-NoA) was further degraded to m-phenylenediamine (m-Phe) only in the presence of CM. The use of CM to degraded anaerobically aromatic amines resulted from azo dye reduction was never reported before. In the sequence, we studied the effect of different CM on the bioreduction of o-, m- and p-NoA. Three microporous activated carbons with different surface chemistry, original (AC0), chemical oxidized with HNO3 (ACHNO3) and thermal treated (ACH2), and three mesoporous carbons, xerogels (CXA and CXB) and nanotubes (CNT) were assessed. In the absence of CM, NoA were only partially reduced to the corresponding Phe, whereas in the presence of CM, more than 90% was converted to the corresponding Phe. ACH2 and AC0 were the best electron shuttles, increasing the rates up to 8-fold. In 24h, the biological treatment of NoA and MY1 with AC0, decreased up to 88% the toxicity towards a methanogenic consortium, as compared to the non-treated solutions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reservedR. Pereira holds a fellowship (SFRH/BD/72388/2010) from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). The authors thank the FCT Strategic UID/BIO/ 04469/2013 and exploratory EXPL/AAG-TEC/0898/2013 projects

Unraveling the Charge Storage Mechanism of Ti3C2Tx MXene Electrode in Acidic Electrolyte

Two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx MXenes have been extensively studied as pseudocapacitive electrode materials. This Letter aims at providing further insights into the charge storage mechanism of the Ti3C2Tx MXene electrode in the acidic electrolyte by combining experimental and simulation approaches. Our results show that the presence of H2O molecules between the MXene layers plays a critical role in the pseudocapacitive behavior, providing a pathway for proton transport to activate the redox reaction of the Ti atoms. Also, thermal annealing of the samples at different temperatures suggests that the presence of the confined H2O molecules is mainly controlled by the surface termination groups. These findings pave the way for alternative strategies to enhance the high-rate performance of MXenes electrodes by optimizing their surface termination groups

Design of Activated Carbon/Activated Carbon Asymmetric Capacitors

Supercapacitors are energy storage devices that offer a high power density and a low energy density in comparison with batteries. Their limited energy density can be overcome by using asymmetric configuration in mass electrodes, where each electrode works within their maximum available potential window, rendering the maximum voltage output of the system. Such asymmetric capacitors are optimized using the capacitance and the potential stability limits of the electrodes, with the reliability of the design largely depending on the accuracy and the approach taken for the electrochemical characterization. Therefore, the performance could be lower than expected and even the system could break down, if a well thought out procedure is not followed. In this work, a procedure for the development of asymmetric supercapacitors based on activated carbons is detailed. Three activated carbon materials with different textural properties and surface chemistry have been systematically characterized in neutral aqueous electrolyte. The asymmetric configuration of the masses of both electrodes in the supercapacitor has allowed to cover a higher potential window, resulting in an increase of the energy density of the three devices studied when compared with the symmetric systems, and an improved cycle life.The authors would like to thank MINECO (CTQ2012/31762, MAT2013-42007-P) and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2013/038 and PROMETEOII/2014/010) for the financial support. RRR thanks MINECO for a “Juan de la Cierva” contract (JCI-2012-12664)

Ultrahigh Surface Area Three-Dimensional Porous Graphitic Carbon from Conjugated Polymeric Molecular Framework

Porous graphitic carbon is essential for many applications such as energy storage devices, catalysts, and sorbents. However, current graphitic carbons are limited by low conductivity, low surface area, and ineffective pore structure. Here we report a scalable synthesis of porous graphitic carbons using a conjugated polymeric molecular framework as precursor. The multivalent cross-linker and rigid conjugated framework help to maintain micro- and mesoporous structures, while promoting graphitization during carbonization and chemical activation. The above unique design results in a class of highly graphitic carbons at temperature as low as 800 ??C with record-high surface area (4073 m2 g-1), large pore volume (2.26 cm-3), and hierarchical pore architecture. Such carbons simultaneously exhibit electrical conductivity >3 times more than activated carbons, very high electrochemical activity at high mass loading, and high stability, as demonstrated by supercapacitors and lithium-sulfur batteries with excellent performance. Moreover, the synthesis can be readily tuned to make a broad range of graphitic carbons with desired structures and compositions for many applications.clos

Supercapacitors (electrochemical capacitors)

International audienceRapid development of the technologies based on electric energy in the last decades have stimulated intensive research on efficient power sources. Electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems are based on Faradaic reactions (charge transfer) and electrostatic attraction of ions at the electrode/electrolyte interface. The latter might be an interesting solution for applications requiring moderate energy density, high power rates, and long cycle life. Electrochemical capacitors (ECs) store the charge in a physical manner, hence, their energy density is moderate. At the same time, the lack of electrochemical reactions ensures very high power and long cycle life compared to batteries. Activated carbons with their versatile properties (like specific surface area, well-developed and suitable porosity, heteroatoms in the graphene matrix) are the most popular materials in EC application. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the carbon-based materials recently developed, with special attention devoted to those obtained by biomass carbonization and activation. Electrochemical properties demonstrated by such carbons are discussed in respect to their physicochemical characteristic