Cumulenic sp-carbon Atomic Wires Wrapped Polymers for Supercapacitor Application

TL;DR

This study explores the use of solution-processed cumulenic sp-carbon atomic wires embedded in polymers as electrodes in supercapacitors, demonstrating promising electrochemical performance especially in KOH electrolyte.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of embedding sp-carbon atomic wires in polymers for supercapacitor applications, with detailed characterization and performance evaluation.

Findings

Achieved an areal capacitance of 2.4 mF/cm2 in KOH electrolyte.

Demonstrated 85% cycle stability after 10,000 cycles.

Identified KOH as the optimal electrolyte for this material.

Abstract

Carbon atomic wires, a linear atomic chain of sp-carbon, is theoretically predicted to have around five times higher surface area than graphene, notable charge mobilities, as well as excellent optical and thermal properties. Despite these impressive properties, the properties of sp-carbon as an electrochemical energy-storage electrode have not been reported so far. Herein, we prepare solution processed thin films of tetraphenyl[3]cumulenic sp-carbon atomic wires embedded in a polymer matrix, in which sp-carbon atomic wires feature three cumulated carbon-carbon double bonds terminated at each end by two phenyl groups. Raman and UV-visible spectroscopy are used to confirm the presence and possible degradation of sp-carbons inside the polymeric matrix. Finally, we investigate the supercapacitor performance of cumulenic sp-carbon atomic wires embedded polymer in three aqueous mediums, namely 1M Na2SO4 (neutral), 1M H2SO4 (acidic), and 6M KOH (basic). The results suggest 6M KOH is the best electrolyte to obtain high charge-storage performance of device with areal capacitance of 2.4 mF/cm2 at 20 mV/s, 85% cycle stability after 10000 charge-discharge cycles, and excellent frequency response.