Activated nanoporous carbon–gold nanoparticle composite electrode with enhanced volumetric capacitance

A novel and straightforward preparation route of an activated nanoporous carbon, produced from abundant biomass, containing a fine dispersion of gold nanoparticles within the carbon microstructure and its application as a supercapacitor electrode material is presented. A remarkable increase of the volumetric capacitance value, with respect to the activated nanoporous electrode without gold nanoparticles, was observed. Interestingly, the electrochemical series resistances of the symmetric cell decreased up to one order of magnitude in comparison with the unmodified carbon material. The incorporation of gold nanoparticles overcomes the characteristic irreversible charge storage of activated carbon electrodes containing surface oxygenated groups. All these findings pave the way to a novel synthetic route of highly-dense carbon nanocomposites for the design of new electrode architectures with potential application in electrical double-layer capacitor development.