SUPERCAPACITOR ELECTRODE MATERIALS BASED ON NANOSTRUCTURED GOLD-CARBON COMPOSITES

Abstract

Nanostructured Au/C composites were obtained by reduction of HAuCl4 solutions with porous carbon matrix. Investigation by different methods shows that the size of forming gold particles is comparable with matrix pore size. It wasdiscovered that a decrease in the concentration of gold in the composites results in an increase in anisometry of Au crystallites, with a predominant enhancement in the direction (100). The comparison of pore size distribution functions of the original Karbonizat matrix and composites on its basis showed that pores with sizes of 2 – 8 nm were less inhibited than the pores of 1 – 2 nm and 8 – 20 nm. It was established that the optimum content of gold in the composite was 1 wt. %. It was found out that electrodes based on Au/C nanocomposites in the asymmetric cell had specific capacity up to 360 F/g, which was 1.8 times higher than the capacity of the original matrix.

Keywords

• porous carbon materials
• gold nanoparticles
• nanocomposites
• electrodes
• supercapacitors