The Effect of Binder in Electrode Materials for Capacitance Improvement and EDLC Binder-free Cell Design

In the present work we show results related with the influence of the binder type used to elaborate active electrodes made of activated carbon (DLC) for the assembly of supercapacitor cells. A Nafion 5%w solution and/or Kinar Flex (Polyvinylidene fluoride, PVDF) were used as binders at different concentrations, using DLC carbon as the active material to make the electrodes by aerography, and carbon paper as support and current collector. Thickness of the electrodes was controlled by the weight of active material (DLC carbon). Cyclic voltammetry technique was used to investigate the intrinsic capacitive nature of these electrodes, increasing this value from 120 F/g to 245 F/g at 20 mV/s just by improving the type and amount of binder, and the thickness of the electrode. Symmetric 2-electrode cells assembled with binder-free electrodes were electrochemically characterized by galvanostatic cycling, showing capacitance values of 38F/g and a stable behavior during 7000 charge-discharge cycles.