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Preparation of activated carbon spheres and their electrochemical properties as supercapacitor electrode

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Abstract

The carbon spheres (CSs) synthesized by an ultrasonic-spray pyrolysis method were activated for supercapacitor electrode. There are plenty of cracks on the surface of the activated carbon spheres (ACSs), which expend with increasing the activation temperature and activator dosage. The specific capacitance of ACSs increases with the activation temperature and activator dosage and reach to maximal value at certain conditions. Importantly, the ACS sample activated at relatively low activation temperature (600 °C) and 7 of mass ratio of KOH to CSs has the highest specific capacitance (about 209 F g−1 at 50 mA g−1 of current density) and indicates the excellent cycling stability after 1000 consecutive charge–discharge cycles. Furthermore, the graphene sheets could be found in the samples that were activated at 1000 °C. And the electrode prepared by the sample has the very low series resistance because of the excellent conductivity of the formed graphene sheets.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers of Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Xin An, Guannan Xing, Jing Wang, Yanhong Tian & Yunfang Liu

  2. Institute of Petrochemical Engineering, Hunan Petrochemical Vocational Technology College, Changsha, 414009, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Qiong Wan

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  1. Xin An
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  2. Guannan Xing
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  3. Jing Wang
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  4. Yanhong Tian
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Correspondence to Yunfang Liu or Qiong Wan.

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An, X., Xing, G., Wang, J. et al. Preparation of activated carbon spheres and their electrochemical properties as supercapacitor electrode. Carbon Lett. 31, 667–676 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-021-00241-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-021-00241-6

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