Comparative study on three commercial carbons for supercapacitor applications.

Three commercial carbon materials for supercapacitor were investigated by physicochemical characterization, electrochemical measurements and surface treatment to explore the effects of specific surface area, electrolyte and surface functional groups on the specific capacitance, charge storage mode and high rate performance of carbon materials. Results indicate that the specific surface area of carbon material plays dominate role in the specific capacitance. The electrolytes have remarkable effects on the specific capacitance and high rate performance. Investigation of HNO treated Vulcan XC-72 carbon material reveals that the treatment can increase the specific surface area and surface functional groups, which observably improve the specific capacitance of the XC-72 carbon material. The surface functional groups contribute to the pseudo-capacitance of the carbon material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]