Electrochemical Performance of Screen-Printed Composite Coatings of Conducting Polymers and Carbon Nanotubes on Titanium Bipolar Plates in Aqueous Asymmetrical Supercapacitors

Zhou, Xiaohang; Chen, George Z.

Abstract

Composites of conducting polymers (polypyrrole and polyaniline) with acid treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes were formulated into printable aqueous inks, with the aid of functional additives (benzethonium chloride as a surfactant with or without polyvinyl alcohol as a binder). The inks were screen-printed as fairly uniform coatings of various mass loading densities and areas (up to 75 mg·cm-2 and 100 cm2) on thin titanium plates (0.1 mm in thickness). These screen-printed plates were used to fabricate both unit cell and multi-cell stack of asymmetrical supercapacitors with screen-printed negative electrodes of activated carbon (pigment black) in aqueous electrolytes (3.0 mol·L-1 KCl or 1.0 mol·L-1 HCl). In particular, a three-cell stack with two bipolar Ti plates of 100 cm2 in screen-printed area was constructed, demonstrating promising technical specifications: 3.0 V in stack voltage, 1.29 ~ 1.83 F·cm-2 in electrode capacitance, 2.30 ~ 3.24 Wh·kg-1 in specific energy, and 1.04 kW·kg-1 in maximum specific power. Cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charging and discharging, and electrochemical impedance spectrometry were applied to study the composites, screen-printed coatings and individual and bipolarly stacked cells, assisted by optical and electron microscopy.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 3, 2012
• Deposit Date: Jun 25, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Electrochemistry
• Publisher: Chinese Electrochemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 5-6
• Pages: 548-565
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/22186922