Study of the influence of particle size of activate carbon for the manufacture of electrodes for supercapacitors

Abstract

By a mechanical treatment of ball milling and from a commercial activate carbon (CAC), four different samples, with different particle size between 200 nm and 1,3 mm, were obtained. These samples were chemically, texturally and morphologically characterized. Likewise, the influence of the particle size on the electrical qualities of the electrodes made for supercapacitors were studied. It was shown that milling process improves, in all cases, the electrical qualities of the supercapacitor made with original CAC. Nevertheless, it was observed that, from a certain particle size, due to particle agglomeration, the electrical capacity of supercapacitors decreased. Carbon black Vulcan 3 (V3) was used as mesoporous additive in order to improve the electrical capacities. The electrical capacity of the samples studied increased between 6 and 221%, in most cases, when V3 was used. In addition, we modelled and printed in 3D, the central parts of the supercapacitors used in this study.