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Flexible Nano‐felts of Carbide‐Derived Carbon with Ultra‐high Power Handling Capability
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Flexible Nano‐felts of Carbide‐Derived Carbon with Ultra‐high Power Handling Capability

Volker Presser, Lifeng Zhang, Jun Jie Niu, John McDonough, Carlos Perez, Hao Fong and Yury Gogotsi
Advanced energy materials, v 1(3), pp 423-430
May 2011

Abstract

nano‐felt titanium carbide carbide derived carbon electrospinning supercapacitor
Nano‐fibrous felts (nano‐felts) of carbide‐derived carbon (CDC) have been developed from the precursor of electrospun titanium carbide (TiC) nano‐felts. Conformal transformation of TiC into CDC conserves main features of the precursor including the high interconnectivity and structural integrity; the developed TiC‐CDC nano‐felts are mechanically flexible/resilient, and can be used as electrode material for supercapacitor application without the addition of any binder. After synthesis through chlorination of the precursor at 600 °C, the TiC‐CDC nano‐fibers show an average pore size of ∼1nm, a high specific surface area of 1390 m2/g; and the nano‐fibers have graphitic carbon ribbons embedded in a highly disordered carbon matrix. Graphitic carbon is preserved from the precursor nano‐fibers where a few graphene layers surround TiC nanocrystallites. Electrochemical measurements show a high gravimetric capacitance of 110 F/g in aqueous electrolyte (1 M H2SO4) and 65 F/g in organic electrolyte (1.5 M TEA‐BF4 in acetonitrile). Because of the unique microstructure of TiC‐CDC nano‐felts, a fade of the capacitance of merely 50% at a high scan rate of 5 V/s is observed. A fade of just 15% is observed for nano‐felt film electrodes tested in 1 M H2 SO4 at 1 V/s, resulting in a high gravimetric capacitance of 94 F/g. Such a high rate performance is only known for graphene or carbon‐onion based supercapacitors, whereas binders have to be used for the fabrication of those supercapacitors. Mechanically flexible nano‐felts of carbide‐derived carbon (CDC) are obtained through chlorination of an electrospun TiC nano‐felt precursor. They show an ultra‐high power handling capability: 50% of the initial capacitance (110 F/g in 1 M H2SO4 and 63 F/g in 1.5 M TEA‐BF4 in acetonitrile) can still be retained at the high scan rate of 5 V/s.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Chemistry, Physical
Energy & Fuels
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Physics, Applied
Physics, Condensed Matter
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