Practical Pouch Cell Supercapacitor Electrodes by Electrophoretic Deposition of Activated Carbon on Nickel Foam

Abstract

This study highlights for the first-time the utilization of nickel foam coated with activated carbon (AC) via the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method in the fabrication of A7 sized pouch cell supercapacitors. The scale-up of electrodes via EPD from coin to pouch cells with mass loadings (10 mg cm⁻²) and thicknesses (>130 μm) that match industrial standards is also reported. Research investigations include: (a) comparison of a two dimensional (2D) aluminum foil current collector's performance with three dimensional (3D) microporous nickel foam current collectors, (b) impact of EPD of AC onto small (10 cm²) and large areas (50 cm²) of nickel foam, and (c) scaling-up of coin to pouch cells along with a comparison against electrodes prepared via the standard doctor blade coating (or slurry casting) method. We demonstrate practical cell performance, including specific current loading (40 A g⁻¹), hundred thousand of successive charge and discharge operation (150,000 cycles), power (27 kW kg⁻¹) and energy densities (37.7 W h kg⁻¹), capacitance (174 F g⁻¹), capacitance retention (80 %) and coulombic efficiency (close to 100 %).