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Pseudocapacitance and performance stability of quinone-coated carbon onions
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Pseudocapacitance and performance stability of quinone-coated carbon onions

Daniela M Anjos, John K McDonough, Emilie Perre, Gilbert M Brown, Steven H Overbury, Yury Gogotsi and Volker Presser
Nano energy, v 2(5), pp 702-712
Sep 2013

Abstract

Carbon onions Quinones Capacitance Pseudocapacitor Electrochemical energy storage
Onion-like carbon, also known as carbon onions, is a highly conductive material enabling supercapacitor electrodes with a very high power density. However, the moderate specific capacitance (circa 30F/g) is insufficient for many energy storage applications. In our study, we show how decoration of carbon onions with quinones provides a facile method to increase the energy density up to one order of magnitude, namely, from 0.5Wh/kg to 4.5Wh/kg, while retaining a high power density and long lifetime. We present data for carbon onions modified with three different kinds of quinones: 1,4-naphthoquinone, 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, and 4,5-pyrenedione. Quinone-decorated carbon onion electrodes are investigated considering the actual quinone loading and the resulting electrochemical performance is probed in 1M H2SO4 as the electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge. The maximum capacitance, 264F/g, is found for carbon onions modified with 4,5-pyrenedione, which also shows the smallest fade in specific capacitance, namely 3%, over 10,000 charge and discharge cycles at a high current density of 1.3A/g. Quinone modification of carbon onions is presented as a facile way to significantly improve the energy density of carbon electrodes composed of onion-like carbon. A high capacitance of up to 264F/g was identified which corresponds to 4.5Wh/kg. A stable performance over thousands of charge and discharge cycles was demonstrated. [Display omitted] •Presentation of a facile technique to significantly increase the specific capacitance of carbon-onion based supercapacitor electrodes.•Highest so far reported specific capacitance of a carbon-onion based electrode (264F/g in 1M H2SO4).•Small fade in specific gravimetric capacitance, namely 3%, after 10,000 charge and discharge cycles at a high current density of 1.3A/g.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Chemistry, Physical
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Physics, Applied
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