Carbon electrodes derived from polyacrylonitrile-polyethylene glycol blend for high-performance supercapcitor

Abstract

Continuous and evenly distributed porous carbon electrodes are prepared from electrospun nanofibers of Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG) blend with different weight ratio. Structure and surface morphology of carbon electrodes are characterized by x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method. The electrochemical performances of porous nanofiberous electrodes are studied by cyclic voltametry, galavanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The carbon electrodes derived from nanofibers of PAN/PEG blend with 15 wt% loadings of PEG shows excellent electrochemical properties with a high specific capacitance of 272.05 F g−1 at the current density of 0.5 A g−1 in 6 mol l−1 aqueous potassium hydroxide electrolyte. These electrodes show 92% capacity retention after 1000 charge/discharge cycles at the current density of 1 A g−1 .