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Improved conductivity and capacitance of interdigital carbon microelectrodes through integration with carbon nanotubes for micro-supercapacitors

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Abstract

In the last decade, pyrolyzed-carbon-based composites have attracted much attention for their applications in micro-supercapacitors. Although various methods have been investigated to improve the performance of pyrolyzed carbons, such as conductivity, energy storage density and cycling performance, effective methods for the integration and mass-production of pyrolyzed-carbon-based composites on a large scale are lacking. Here, we report the development of an optimized photolithographic technique for the fine micropatterning of photoresist/chitosan-coated carbon nanotube (CHIT-CNT) composite. After subsequent pyrolysis, the fabricated carbon/CHIT-CNT microelectrode-based micro-supercapacitor has a high capacitance (6.09 mF·cm–2) and energy density (4.5 mWh·cm–3) at a scan rate of 10 mV·s–1. Additionally, the micro-supercapacitor has a remarkable long-term cyclability, with 99.9% capacitance retention after 10,000 cyclic voltammetry cycles. This design and microfabrication process allow the application of carbon microelectromechanical system (C-MEMS)-based micro-supercapacitors due to their high potential for enhancing the mechanical and electrochemical performance of micro-supercapacitors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Yanjuan Yang, Liang He, Chunjuan Tang, Ping Hu, Xufeng Hong, Mengyu Yan, Yixiao Dong, Xiaocong Tian, Qiulong Wei & Liqiang Mai

  2. Department of Mathematics and Physics, Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology, Luoyang, 471023, China

    Chunjuan Tang

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  1. Yanjuan Yang
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  2. Liang He
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Correspondence to Liang He or Liqiang Mai.

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Yang, Y., He, L., Tang, C. et al. Improved conductivity and capacitance of interdigital carbon microelectrodes through integration with carbon nanotubes for micro-supercapacitors. Nano Res. 9, 2510–2519 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1137-3

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