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 %).