Fabrication of flexible electrode materials based on carbon-metal oxide and metal-metal oxide for supercapacitors

• Main Author: Shen, Jingjing
• Other Authors: Kong Ling Bing
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/74331
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The rise of wearable electronics is increasing the demand of flexible energy storage devices, whereby the capacitance and electrochemical properties should be comparable to conventional rigid supercapacitors. The objective of this research is to explore different methods of fabricating flexible electrodes based on carbon-metal oxide and metal-metal oxide materials. The carbon-metal oxide electrode was prepared by simple two step procedure which involved vacuum filtration of vapour grown carbon nanofiber and commercial Chinese ink mixture onto cellulose paper, followed by electrodeposition of nickel hydroxide. Subsequent calcination of nickel hydroxide produced nickel oxide, which displayed better cycling stability and higher specific capacitance due to the increase in pores which facilitated the movement of OH- and resulted in higher charge storage. The novel use of Chinese ink was discovered to alleviate agglomeration of active CNF and the presence of carbon black particles increased the electrical conductivity of the electrode. The metal-metal oxide electrode was fabricated through electroless nickel plating, followed by electrodeposition of nickel oxide. The conductivity of nickel was proven to be higher than that of CNF, and due to the excellent adhesion of nickel oxide and nickel, the electrode exhibited much higher specific capacitance and improved electrochemical stability.