title: Atomic layer deposition encapsulated activated carbon electrodes for high voltage stable supercapacitors.
abstract: Operating voltage enhancement is an effective route for high energy density supercapacitors. Unfortunately, widely used activated carbon electrode generally suffers from poor electrochemical stability over 2.5 V. Here we present atomic layer deposition (ALD) encapsulation of activated carbons for high voltage stable supercapacitors. Two-nanometer-thick Al2O3 dielectric layers are conformally coated at activated carbon surface by ALD, well-maintaining microporous morphology. Resultant electrodes exhibit excellent stability at 3 V operation with 39% energy density enhancement from 2.5 V operation. Because of the protection of surface functional groups and reduction of electrolyte degradation, 74% of initial voltage was maintained 50 h after full charge, and 88% of capacitance was retained after 5000 cycles at 70 °C accelerated test, which correspond to 31 and 17% improvements from bare activated carbon, respectively. This ALD-based surface modification offers a general method to enhance electrochemical stability of carbon materials for diverse energy and environmental applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST, Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions, Institute for Basic Science (IBS) , Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kijoo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Moonkyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Sang Ouk
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: activated carbon; atomic layer deposition; electrode; encapsulation; supercapacitor