Title: Mesoporous carbon film via spin coating soft templating method for supercapacitor electrode

Authors: Mahanim Sarif @. Mohd Ali; Zulkarnain Zainal; Mohd Zobir Hussein; Mohd Haniff Wahid; Sook-Keng Chang; Laimy Mohd Fudzi; Asla Abdullah Meed Al-Zahrani

Addresses: Materials Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Forest Product Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, 52109 Kepong, Selangor, Malaysia ' Materials Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Materials Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Materials Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: Mesoporous carbon (MPC) films were prepared by using spin coating self-assembly soft templating method onto titanium (Ti) foils as substrates. Carbon precursor of resorcinol (R), formaldehyde (F) and a surfactant of triblock copolymer Pluoronic F127 (F127) which may act as a structure directing agent (SDA) for the pore structure geometry tuning were used in the preparation of the mesoporous carbon films. The samples were then carbonised to obtain the final product of MPC films. The mesostructure was characterised by thermogravimetry (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and electrochemical analyses. The MPC film showed excellent electrochemical property for supercapacitor application by achieving specific capacitance value of 15.23 mF cm^-2 at the scan rate of 5 mV s⁻¹ in 1.0 M potassium chloride (KCl) neutral aqueous electrolyte which was approximately 88 times higher than as prepared samples. F127/RF carbon film also displayed outstanding cycle stability with 98% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles. This has proven that the synthesised MPC film-coated titanium foil may be a promising candidate for high performance electric double layer capacitors (EDLC).

Keywords: mesoporous carbon; spin coating; soft templating method; supercapacitor; carbonisation; electrochemical.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2019.107358

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2019 Vol.16 No.11/12, pp.640 - 659

Published online: 18 May 2020 *

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