Highly Porous Carbon Blacks for Supercapacitors and Electrochemical Energy Storage

GEORGIOS A. KELESIDIS, Nicola Rossi, Ayca G. Senol, Christian Prehal, Sotiris E. Pratsinis, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

     Abstract Number: 195
     Working Group: Nanoparticles and Materials Synthesis

Abstract
Supercapacitors are essential for efficient energy storage in power electronics, as well as to complement Li-ion batteries for short-time energy delivery and harvesting in hybrid/electric vehicles and other transportation systems. These devices rely on porous carbonaceous materials, such as activated carbons, that have large specific surface area, SSA. Here, highly porous carbonaceous nanoparticles were prepared by judicious oxidation of a commercial carbon black (CB) grade (Carbon, 2022: 197, 334-340). X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption and microscopy analyses revealed that O2 diffuses through, reacts with the bulk CB resulting in tiny pores (Carbon, 2024:219, 118764). The SSA of the oxidized CB obtained here is about 50 - 100 % larger than the SSA of most porous CB grades that are currently available in the market and on par with that of commercial activated carbons used as active material in supercapacitors or electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Most importantly, the gravimetric capacitance of EDLCs made using the above high SSA CB is larger than those obtained from EDLCs based on two commercial activated carbons at high scan rates and current densities. The superior rate performance of the present CB is attributed to the large concentration of small pores formed largely by internal oxidation and the small CB particle size (Combust. Flame, 2019: 209, 493-499). Hence, close control of the oxidation dynamics of CB can drastically increase supercapacitor performance.