Physical and electrochemical properties of fluoroacetonitrile and its application to electric double-layer capacitors

Abstract

Propylene carbonate (PC), which shows high viscosity, is commonly used as a solvent for electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). The use of acetonitrile (AN) as an alternative solvent improves the performance of the EDLCs. Partial fluorination of organic solvents often increases their polarity. We focus our attention on the use of fluoroacetonitorile (FAN) as an alternative solvent for the EDLCs. Although electrolytic conductivity of FAN is slightly lower than that of AN, the capacitance of a model cell is higher than those obtained for AN and PC.