Fabrication of highly-conductive porous capacitor electrodes by the insertion of Cu-nanoparticles into N-doped flocculated carbon catalysts.

In carbon-based electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC), an ideal electrode should have convenient mass transport, ensuring rich porosity and rapid electron transfer, guaranteeing the electrode bulk's high conductivity. In this study, ultrafine Cu nanoparticles inserted carbon flocculation is formed on carbon cloth using polydopamine and cupric chloride precursors via pyrolysis and electrochemical oxidation reaction. As a result, the obtained electrode has a large surface area of 55.5 m2g-1 and high conductivity of 48.7 S/mm, which shows excellent charge storage capability with high specific capacitance of 3546 mF cm-2 at a current density of 1 mA cm-2. Moreover, when the as-prepared electrode is used as electrodes in symmetric EDLC, it can provide a high energy density of 23 mWh cm-3 with a power density of 179 mW cm-3, making it as a promising carbon electrode for practical EDLCs.