Enhanced Power Performance Of Highly Mesoporous Sol-Gel Tic Derived Carbons In Ionic Liquid And Non-Aqueous Electrolyte Based Capacitors

The electrical double layer capacitors (EDLC) based on hierarchical micro-mesoporous sol-gel TiC derived carbon (SgTiC-CDC) electrodes and 1-ethy1-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EtMeImBF(4)) and 1M Et3MeNBF4 acetonitrile (AN) as the electrolytes were tested to establish the electrochemical characteristics and region of ideal polarizability. The precursors for the micro-mesoporous carbon electrodes were synthesized via modified sol-gel synthesis process. Compared to traditional titanium carbide derived carbons, where precursor carbide is commercially available, the sol-gel TiC derived hierarchical carbon materials exhibit larger specific density functional theory (DFT) surface areas (up to 1700 m(2) g(-1)) and an unique pore size distribution with more mesopores between 2 and 10 nm. The electrochemical properties of the EDLCs were investigated using the cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, galvanostatic charge/discharge and constant power discharge methods. The EDLCs demonstrated nearly ideal capacitive behavior even at very high charging/discharging currents (10 A g(-1)) and cell potential scan rates (500 mV s(-1)). The EDLCs completed from SgTiC-CDC materials and EtMeImBF4 and Et3MeNBF4 + AN show good energy efficiencies (varying from 93% to 95% at current 1 A g(-1)) and coulombic efficiency values exceeded 99%. Thus, the EDLCs completed are very promising devices for extremely high power/energy density applications. (C) The Author(s) 2019. Published by ECS.