Yttrium Oxide-Catalyzed Formation of Electrically Conductive Carbon for Supercapacitors

The development of electrically conductive and high surface area carbon is important for the improvement of supercapacitor energy densities. Yttrium hydroxide microspindles were prepared and shown to catalyze carbon growth. The carbon exhibited a high surface area of 932 m2/g and high conductivity of 2.2 × 105 S/m. The carbon/yttrium oxide interface was probed using XPS, Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and solid-state fluorescence. Supercapacitor cells were assembled using the yttrium-catalyzed carbon and EMI-TFSI ionic liquid as the electrolyte. The symmetric supercapacitor cell had a specific capacitance of 137.2 F/g, energy density of 57.4 Wh/kg, and power density of 1724.3 W/kg, at 1 A/g.