The energy storage properties of supercapacitors with carbon-based electrodes

Abstract

Activated carbon has been found to be a promising material for energy storage systems, especially for supercapacitors which overcome the performance of the conventional capacitors as they can store tremendous amounts of energy. Unlike typical batteries, which use chemical reactions to accumulate an electric charge, supercapacitors with activated carbon electrodes are based on electrostatics. Herein, we report properties of double-layer supercapacitor with highly porous activated carbon felt electrodes capable of achieving not only high power density but also a high energy density. In particular, we investigated the influence of the modification of electrodes with graphite flakes on the electrical capacity of supercapacitors. Due to attractive experimental results, this work is an important step towards large scale commercialization of carbon-based supercapacitor development technology.