Performance of chitosan derived activated carbon in supercapacitor

In the present work, the performance characteristics of symmetric supercapacitor employing activated carbon electrodes have been studied in pure ionic liquid (1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, EMITFSI) and its gel polymer. Activated carbon (AC) was derived from chitosan using chemical activation method. The influence of activation temperature on the porous characteristics of prepared AC was comprehensively investigated, employing surface area and pore size analyzer. Other textural properties of synthesized AC were investigated employing the techniques of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) was prepared employing solution cast method. Symmetric supercapacitor cells were prepared and their performance was evaluated in two-electrode system employing standard electrochemical characterization techniques. It was observed that the supercapacitor cell using GPE offers superior performance (in the context of specific capacitance and cyclic stability), as compared to the supercapacitor cell employing pure ionic liquid (IL).