Abstract
Supercapacitors, commonly called electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), are emerging as a novel type of energy storage device with the potential to substitute batteries in applications requiring high power densities. In response to the latest experimental breakthrough in nanoporous carbon supercapacitors, we propose a heuristic theoretical model that takes pore curvature into account as a replacement for the EDLC model which is based on a traditional parallel-plate capacitor. When the pore size is in the mesopore regime (2-50 nm), counterions enter mesoporous carbons and approach the pore wall to form an electric double-cylinder capacitor (EDCC); in the micropore regime (< 2 nm), solvated/desolvated counterions line up along the pore axis to form an electric wire-in-cylinder capacitor (EWCC). In the macropore regime (> 50 nm) where pores are large enough so that the pore curvature is no longer significant, the EDCC model can be reduced naturally to the EDLC model. We present density functional theory calculations and detailed analyses of available experimental data in various pore regimes, showing the significant effects of pore curvature on the supercapacitor properties of nanoporous carbons. It is shown that the EDCC/EWCC model is universal to carbon supercapacitors with diverse carbon materials including activated carbons, template carbons, and novel carbide-derived carbons, and with diverse electrolytes including organic electrolytes such as tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TEABF4), tetraethylammonium methyl-sulfonate (TEAMS) in acetonitrile, aqueous H2SO4 and KOH electrolytes, and even ionic liquid electrolyte such as 1-ethyl-3-methylimmidazolium bis(trifluromethane-sulfonyl)imide (EMI-TFSI). The EDCC/EWCC model allows the supercapacitor properties to be correlated with pore size, specific surface area, Debye length, electrolyte concentration and dielectric constant, and solute ion size, and may lend a support for the systematic optimization of the properties of carbon supercapacitors via experiments. On the basis of the insight obtained from the new model, we also discuss the effects of the kinetic solvation/desolvation process, multimodal (versus unimodal) pore size distribution, and exohedral (versus endohedral) capacitors on the electrochemical properties of supercapacitors.
