THE EFFECT OF DOPED NANOSTRUCTURED TiO2/ACTIVATED CARBON COMPOSITE AS ELECTRODES FOR CAPACITOR

Research has been carried out to make supercapacitors based on carbon nanopores and transition metal oxides. Carbon nanopores have been made from coconut shells using a simple heating method with a carrier gas with various activation temperatures to produce carbon nanopores. The activation process is carried out with the chemical compound potassium hydroxide (KOH) by heating tube flowing with nitrogen gas. The resulting carbon nanopores have a specific surface area of 1056 to 1469 m2/g with pores at nanopore size. Size of pore between mesopore and macropore sizes. The maximum specific capacitance was obtained from the nanoporous fraction. Cyclic voltammetry test results show that the specific capacitance does not only depend on the specific surface area but is also determined by the pore size distribution, especially in the mesoporous and sub-nanoporous ranges. The effect of porosity and crystallinity of carbon nanopores on supercapacitor performance was also investigated. The results show that the degree of crystallization of carbon has a significant effect on the specific capacitance. To increase the conductivity, specific surface area, and increase the nanoporosity of activated carbon, which ultimately increases the specific capacitance of the supercapacitor, the use of nano size TiO2 materials has been investigated. From the results it is evident that the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles affects the capacitance.