Rate Capability of Electric Double-Layer Capacitor (EDLC) Electrodes According to Pore Length in Spherical Porous Carbons

Abstract

A series of spherical porous carbons were prepared via resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) sol-gel polymerization in the presence of cationic surfactant (CTAB, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide), wherein the carbon sphere size was controlled by varying the CTAB introduction time after a pre-determined period of addition reaction (termed as "pre-curing"). The sphere size gradually decreases with an increase in the pre-curing time within the range of 30-150 nm. The carbons possess two types of pores; one inside carbon spheres (intra-particle pores) and the other at the interstitial sites made by carbon spheres (inter-particle pores). Of the two, the surface exposed on the former was dominant to determine the electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) performance of porous carbons. As the intra-particle pores were generated inside RF gel spheres by gasification, the pore diameter was similar for all these carbons, thereby the pore length turned out to be a decisive factor controlling the EDLC performance. The charge-discharge voltage profiles and complex capacitance analysis consistently illustrate that the smaller-sized RF carbons deliver a better rate capability, which must be the direct result of facilitated ion penetration into shorter pores.