Bipolarly stacked electrolyser for energy and space efficient fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes

Liu, Xiaojuan; Wu, Tao; Dai, Zengxin; Tao, Keran; Shi, Yong; Peng, Chuang; Zhou, Xiaohang; Chen, George Z.

Abstract

Stacked electrolysers with titanium bipolar plates are constructed for electrodeposition of polypyrrole electrodes for supercapacitors. The cathode side of the bipolar Ti plates are pre-coated with activated carbon. In this new design, half electrolysis occurs which significantly lowers the deposition voltage. The deposited electrodes are tested in a symmetrical unit cell supercapacitor and an asymmetrical supercapacitor stack. Both devices show excellent energy storage performances and the capacitance values are very close to the design value, suggesting a very high current efficiency during the electrodeposition. The electrolyser stack offers multi-fold benefits for preparation of conducting polymer electrodes, i.e. low energy consumption, facile control of the electrode capacitance and simultaneous preparation of a number of identical electrodes. Therefore, the stacked bipolar electrolyser is a technology advance that offers an engineering solution for mass production of electrodeposited conducting polymer electrodes for supercapacitors.

Citation

Liu, X., Wu, T., Dai, Z., Tao, K., Shi, Y., Peng, C., Zhou, X., & Chen, G. Z. (2016). Bipolarly stacked electrolyser for energy and space efficient fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes. Journal of Power Sources, 307, 208-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.01.006

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jan 8, 2016
• Publication Date: May 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Power Sources
• Print ISSN: 0378-7753
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 307
• Pages: 208-213
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.01.006
• Keywords: Electrode fabrication; Supercapacitor; Stacked bipolar electrolyser; Electrodeposition; Conducting polymer; Half electrolysis
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1880812
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775316300064?via%3Dihub