Study of correlation of structural and surface properties with electrochemical behaviour in carbon aerogels

Carbon aerogel is a promising material for electrochemical double layer capacitors. In this paper carbon aerogels prepared by subcritical drying method are investigated for the change in the structure and surface properties at different pyrolysis temperatures. The important relations between structure, morphology, surface area and electrical properties were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface area measurement and cyclic voltametry. It is shown that structure and the surface functional groups play important role in enhancement of electrochemical capacitance. The specific capacitance achieved was 114 F/gm which is quite large value for subcritically prepared carbon aerogels without any kind of activation process.