ELECTROLESS DEPOSITION OF NANOSCALE TIN OXIDE ON COCONUT ACTIVATED CARNON FOR SUPERCAPACITOR ELECTRODE

Abstract

Supercapacitors, whose evolution dated back to about fifty years, are widely considered as energy storage devices that have great potential of filling the power-energy gap that exist between the batteries and the dielectric capacitors owing to their extended cycle life and tremendous power density. Nanostructured tin oxide (SnO2)–activated carbon (AC) was successfully synthesized via zinc ions and dispersion catalyzed coconut activated carbon from Malaysia in aqueous solution using electroless plating method. The crystallinity of the composites was studied by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) while the structure of the composites was examined by field-emission scanning microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX). Using a three-electrode cell configuration, the electrochemical performance of the composite was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The specific capacitance of the SnO2-AC composite measured at a scan rate of 20 mV s-1 was found to be 281 F g-1.