Abstract

An electrochemical symmetric capacitor with a modest energy and power densities has been fabricated using a commercially prepared carbon nanotubes as electrode and hybrid solid polymer electrolyte. This integrated separator and electrolyte layer is made up of a filter paper, a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) doped with phosphoric acid at three different concentrations. The electrode material consisted of 90 % of the said carbon nanotubes and 10 % of Poly (Vinylidene Fluoride-Co-Hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP). Three cells were then assembled as follows; cell-A (N90PVdF-HFP10 |H50| N90PVdF-HFP10), cell-B (N90PVdF-HFP10 |H60| N90PVdF-HFP10) and cell-C (N90PVdF-HFP10 |H70| N90PVdF-HFP10). These as-assembled symmetric supercapacitor with an optimal mass ratio was able to be operated reversibly over a wide voltage range of 0.0–3.0 V, depending on the cell-type. Overall, the supercapacitor fabricated from cell A exhibits excellent rate capability with a capacitance, energy and power densities of 163.66 Fg^?1_, 822.00 Jg^?1 and 5.38 Jg^?1s^?1 respectively, and long-term cycling stability of 5000 cycles.

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