Nanostructured Carbon Fibres (NCF): Fabrication and Application in Supercapacitor Electrode

Abstract

A facile interconnected nanofibre electrode material derived from polybenzimidazol (PBI) was fabricated for a supercapacitor using a centrifugal spinning technique. The PBI solution in a mixture of dimethyl acetamide (DMA) and N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was electrospun to an interconnection of fine nanofibres. The as-prepared material was characterised by using various techniques, which include scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) among others. The specific surface area of the interconnected NCF material was noticed to be around 49 m² g^-1. Electrochemical properties of the material prepared as a single-electrode are methodically studied by adopting cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and constant-current charge-discharge techniques. A maximum specific capacitance of 78.4 F g^-1 was observed for the electrode at a specific current of 0.5 A g^-1 in a 2.5 M KNO₃ solution. The electrode could also retain 96.7% of its initial capacitance after a 5000 charge-discharge cycles at 5 A g^-1. The observed capacitance and good cycling stability of the electrode are supported by its specific surface area, pore volume, and conductivity. The results obtained for this material indicate its potential as suitable candidate electrode for supercapacitor application.