Elsevier, Electrochimica Acta, 20(50), p. 4174-4181
DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2005.01.038
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This paper presents results obtained with 4 cm2 Carbon/Carbon supercapacitors cells in organic electrolyte. In the first approach, a surface treatment for Al current collector foil via the sol–gel route has been used in order to decrease the Al/active material interface resistance. Performances obtained with this original process are: a low equivalent series resistance (ESR) of 0.5 Ω cm2 and a specific capacitance of 95 F g−1 of activated carbon. Then, supercapacitors assembled with treated Al foil and active material containing activated carbon/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with different compositions have been studied. Galvanostatic cycling measurements show that when CNTs content increases, both ESR and specific capacitance are decreased. Fifteen percent appears to be a good compromise between stored energy and delivered power with an ESR of 0.4 Ω cm2 and a specific capacitance of 93 F g−1 of carbonaceous active material. Finally, cells frequency behaviour has been characterized by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy. The relaxation time constant of cells decreases when the CNTs content increases. For 15% of CNTs, the time constant is about 30% lower as compared to a cell using pure activated carbon-based electrodes leading to a higher delivered power.