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Effect of diffuse layer and pore shapes in mesoporous carbon supercapacitors

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Abstract

In the spirit of the theoretical evolution from the Helmholtz model to the Gouy-Chapman-Stern model for electric double-layer capacitors, we explored the effect of a diffuse layer on the capacitance of mesoporous carbon supercapacitors by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation in mesopores of diameters from 2 to 20 nm. To evaluate the effect of pore shape, both slit and cylindrical pores were considered. We found that the diffuse layer does not affect the capacitance significantly. For slit pores, the area-normalized capacitance is nearly independent of pore size, which is not experimentally observed for template carbons. In comparison, for cylindrical pores, PB simulations produce a trend of slightly increasing area-normalized capacitance with pore size, similar to that depicted by the electric double-cylinder capacitor model proposed earlier. These results indicate that it is appropriate to approximate the pore shape of mesoporous carbons as being cylindrical and the electric double-cylinder capacitor model should be used for mesoporous carbons as a replacement of the traditional Helmholtz model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6367, USA

    Jingsong Huang

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 29634-0921, USA

    Rui Qiao

  3. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6367, USA

    Bobby G. Sumpter & Vincent Meunier

Authors
  1. Jingsong Huang
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  2. Rui Qiao
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  3. Bobby G. Sumpter
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  4. Vincent Meunier
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Correspondence to Vincent Meunier.

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Huang, J., Qiao, R., Sumpter, B.G. et al. Effect of diffuse layer and pore shapes in mesoporous carbon supercapacitors. Journal of Materials Research 25, 1469–1475 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2010.0188

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2010.0188

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