• Carbon letters
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.78-85
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• 2015

Activated carbons (ACs) were prepared by activation of coal tar pitch (CTP) in the range of $700^{\circ}C-1000^{\circ}C$ for 1-4 h using potassium hydroxide (KOH) powder as the activation agent. The optimal activation conditions were determined to be a CTP/KOH ratio of 1:4, activation temperature of $900^{\circ}C$, and activation time of 3 h. The obtained ACs showed increased pore size distribution in the range of 1 to 2 nm and the highest specific capacitance of 122 F/g in a two-electrode system with an organic electrolyte, as measured by a charge-discharge method in the voltage range of 0-2.7 V. In order to improve the performance of the electric double-layer capacitor electrode, various mixtures of CTP and petroleum pitch (PP) were activated at the optimal activation conditions previously determined for CTP. Although the specific capacitance of AC electrodes prepared from CTP only and the mixtures of CTP and PP was not significantly different at a current density of 1 A/g, the AC electrodes from CTP and PP mixtures showed outstanding specific capacitance at higher current rates. In particular, CTP-PP61 (6:1 mixture) had the highest specific capacitance of 132 F/g, and the specific capacitance remained above 90% at a high current density of 3 A/g. It was found that the high specific capacitance could be attributed to the increased micro-pore volume of ACs with pore sizes from 1 to 2 nm, and the high power density could be attributed to the increased meso-pore volume.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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• v.68
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• pp.257-266
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• 2018

Here, a controlled green synthesis route involving hydrothermal pre-carbonization cum pyrolysis is reported that converts cucumber into graphene-like carbon nanosheets for supercapacitor application. Transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals the formation of ultra-thin carbon nanosheets with distributed pores. This cucumber derived carbon exhibits high specific capacitance of $143F\;g^{-1}$ in aqueous electrolyte. The two-electrode symmetric cell exhibits a specific capacitance of $58F\;g^{-1}$ at high current density, and high capacitance retention of 97% after 1000 cycles. This simple low-cost process involving widely available cucumber as biomass precursor is a promising, commercially viable approach for developing high-performance supercapacitors.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.623-630
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• 2019

Because of their excellent stability and highly specific surface area, carbon based materials have received attention as electrode materials of electrical double-layer capacitors(EDLCs). Biomass based carbon materials have been studied for electrode materials of EDLCs; these materials have low capacitance and high-rate performance. We fabricated tofu based porous activated carbon by polymer dissolution reaction and KOH activation. The activated porous carbon(APC-15), which has an optimum condition of 15 wt%, has a high specific surface area($1,296.1m^2\;g^{-1}$), an increased average pore diameter(2.3194 nm), and a high mesopore distribution(32.4 %), as well as increased surface functional groups. In addition, APC has a high specific capacitance($195F\;g^{-1}$) at low current density of $0.1A\;g^{-1}$ and excellent specific capacitance($164F\;g^{-1}$) at high current density of $2.0A\;g^{-1}$. Due to the increased specific surface area, volume ratio of mesopores, and surface functional groups, the specific capacitance and high-rate performance increased. Consequently, the tofu based activated porous carbon can be proposed as an electrode material for high-performance EDLCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.597-597
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• 2012

A simple solution-based method is developed to deposit crystalline ultrathin (2 nm) nickel hydroxide on vertically grown ZnO nanowires to achieve high specific capacitance and long-term life for flexible and wearable energy storage devices. Ultrathin crystalline $Ni(OH)_2$ enables fast and reversible redox reaction to improve the specific capacitance by utilizing maximum number of active sites for the redox reaction while vertically grown ZnO nanowires on wearable textile fiber effectively transport electrolytes and shorten the ion diffusion path. Under the highly flexible state $Ni(OH)_2$ coated ZnO nanowires electrode shows a high specific capacitance of 2150 F/g (based on pristine $Ni(OH)_2$ in 1 M LiOH aqueous solution with negligible decrease in specific capacitance after 1000 cycles. The synthesized energy-storage electrodes are easy-to-assemble which can provide unprecedented design ingenuity for a variety of wearable and flexible electronic devices.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.112-116
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• 2018

Electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs) are promising candidates for energy storage devices in electronic applications. An EDLC yields high power density but has low specific capacitance. Carbon material is used in EDLCs owing to its large specific surface area, large pore volume, and good mechanical stability. Consequently, the use of carbon materials for EDLC electrodes has attracted considerable research interest. In this paper, in order to evaluate the electrochemical performance, graphene is used as an EDLC electrode with flake sizes of 3, 12, and 60 nm. The surface characteristic and electrochemical properties of graphene were investigated using SEM, BET, and cyclic voltammetry. The specific capacitance of the graphene based EDLC was measured in a 1 M $TEABF_4/ACN$ electrolyte at the scan rates of 2, 10, and 50 mV/s. The 3 nm graphene electrode had the highest specific capacitance (68.9 F/g) compared to other samples. This result was attributed to graphene's large surface area and meso-pore volume. Therefore, large surface area and meso-pore volume effectively enhances the specific capacitance of EDLCs.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.07c
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• pp.2010-2012
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• 2005

Activated carbon was activated with chemical treatment to attain high surface area with porous structure. We have been considered activated carbon is the ideal material for high voltage electric double layer capacitor due to their high specific surface area, good conductivity and chemical stability. In this study we found that increase in electrochemical capacitance due to activated carbon. Also chemically activated carbon and water treatment have resulted larger capacitance and also exhibits better electrochemical behavior, and is about 15% more than in untreated state. The structural change in activated carbon through chemical treatment activation was investigated by using SEM and XRD. In this study, the dependence of the activation behavior with KOH in the micro structure of host materials will be discussed. Furthermore, the relation to the electric double layer capacitance, especially the specific capacitance per unit area, is also discussed.

• Carbon letters
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• v.22
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• pp.70-80
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• 2017

Activated carbons (ACs) have been used as electrode materials of electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC) due to their high specific surface areas (SSA), stability, and ecological advantages. In order to make high-energy-density ACs for EDLC, petroleum pitch (PP) pre-carbonized at $500-1000^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ gas for 1 h was used as the electrode material of the EDLC after KOH activation. As the pre-carbonization temperature increased, the SSA, pore volume and gravimetric capacitance tended to decrease, but the crystallinity and electrode density tended to increase, showing a maximum volumetric capacitance at a medium carbonization temperature. Therefore, it was possible to control the crystalline structure, SSA, and pore structure of AC by changing the pre-carbonization temperature. Because the electrode density increased with increasing of the pre-carbonization temperature, the highest volumetric capacitance of 28.4 F/cc was obtained from the PP pre-carbonized at $700^{\circ}C$, exhibiting a value over 150% of that of a commercial AC (MSP-20) for EDLC. Electrochemical activation was observed from the electrodes of PP as they were pre-carbonized at high temperatures above $700^{\circ}C$ and then activated by KOH. This process was found to have a significant effect on the specific capacitance and it was demonstrated that the higher charging voltage of EDLC was, the greater the electrochemical activation effect was.

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.69-70
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• 2003

10 wt.% of PAN was dissolved in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and 1 wt. % of the multi wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was evenly dispersed in PAN solution by using ultrasonic miner. The 1 wt.% addition of MWCNT increased the specific capacitance by two times more from 82 to 160 F/g. The specific capacitance of carbon nanofiber(CNF)/carbon nanotube(CNT) composite capacitors was about 90 F/g at the current density of 500 mA/g. This value is even larger than the capacitance from the CNF electrode at the current density of 5 mA. The relatively high capacitance at the high current density is a practical importance for applications to supercapacitor in motor vehicle.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.643-648
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• 2013

Activated carbon (AC) was synthesized from rice husks using the chemical activation method with KOH, NaOH, a combination of (NaOH + $Na_2CO_3$), and a combination of (KOH + $K_2CO_3$) as the chemical activating reagents. The activated carbon with the highest surface area (around $2000m^2/g$) and high porosity, which allows the absorption of a large number of ions, was applied as electrode material in electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs). The AC for EDLC electrodes is required to have a high surface area and an optimal pore size distribution; these are important to attain high specific capacitance of the EDLC electrodes. The electrodes were fabricated by compounding the rice husk activated carbons with super-P and mixed with polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) at a weight ratio of 83:10:7. AC electrodes and nickel foams were assembled with potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution as the electrolyte. Electrochemical measurements were carried out with a three electrode cell using 6 M KOH as electrolyte and Hg/HgO as the reference electrode. The specific capacitance strongly depends on the pore structure; the highest specific capacitance was 179 F/g, obtained for the AC with the highest specific surface area. Additionally, different activation times, levels of heating, and chemical reagents were used to compare and determine the optimal parameters for obtaining high surface area of the activated carbon.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.381-385
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• 2007

High density activated carbons electrode materials, for supercapacitor were prepared by chemical KOH activation of cokes as the starting material under Ar atmosphere. By controlling the synthesis conditions and reducing KOH quantity in the activation step, the specific surface area of the product was decreased. BET surface area was measured to be $500{\sim}1260m^2/g$, and the electrode density was in the range of $0.68{\sim}0.83g/cm^3$. Volumetric specific capacitance (unit cell test) was as high as 20 F/cc, which corresponds to gravimetric specific capacitance of about 95 F/cc on the basis of half cell test. It should be noted that the specific capacitance of the activated carbons prepared in this study is superior to that of commercial activated carbons.