EFFECT OF POLYVINYL PYRROLIDONE (PVP) ULTRASONIC IMPREGNATION TIME ON THE SURFACE OF ACTIVATED CARBON AND IT'S PERFORMANCE AS AN ELECTRIC DOUBLE LAYER ELECTRODE

• Main Author: Rosyad Robbani, Muhammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/83869
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

In recent years, electric vehicles (EVs) have become a topic of widespread discussion. This is because EVs are predicted to disrupt conventional vehicles in the coming years. The development of EVs cannot be separated from hybrid energy storage system technology, which combines supercapacitors with batteries. Consequently, research on hybrid supercapacitors, particularly in the field of materials, has attracted public attention. One part of hybrid supercapacitors are electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). EDLCs commonly use porous carbon-based electrodes, such as activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. In the EDLC manufacturing industry, activated carbon is commonly used as an electrode material. However, there are still some disadvantage of commercial activated carbon that could be improved. The lack of performance of activated carbon as an electrode is partly due to the less-than-optimal pore distribution and functional groups. In this study, a supercapacitor device is developed with a focus on optimizing the surface of activated carbon using ultrasonic impregnation of polivinyl pyrrolidone (PVP). The variation in PVP impregnation time is important because there is a lack of studies analyzing this factor. The depth of PVP infiltration into the carbon substrate will affect it’s physical and chemical properties. Therefore, this study analyzes the effects of PVP impregnation time on the surface of activated carbon. Variations of 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, and 120 minutes were conducted. From the testing and characterization results, it was found that the addition of PVP influenced the physical and chemical profile of the surface. This study successfully increased the capacitance value by 104,64%. Characterization methods used included SEM, BET, BJH, MP, XRD, and FTIR to analyze the changes that occurred. Based on the obtained characterization, a description was made regarding how the increased PVP impregnation time affects the surface of activated carbon. Keywords: EDLC supercapacitor, PVP impregnation, pore distribution, activated carbon ?