Surface modification and electrochemical performance of KMnO<sub>4</sub>‑ultra‑surface area activated carbon (USAC) composites as cathode material

Otgonbayar, Zambaga; Fatema, K amrun Nahar; Rafat, Md Nazmodduha; Ryu, Jihyeon; Yang, Sun‑Hye; Kim, Ick‑Jun; Oh, Won‑Chun; Otgonbayar, Zambaga; Fatema, K amrun Nahar; Rafat, Md Nazmodduha; Ryu, Jihyeon; Yang, Sun‑Hye; Kim, Ick‑Jun; Oh, Won‑Chun

doi:2020.57.5.585

J. Korean Ceram. Soc. > Volume 57(5); 2020 > Article

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society 2020;57(5): 585-596.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43207-020-00057-6

Surface modification and electrochemical performance of KMnO₄‑ultra‑surface area activated carbon (USAC) composites as cathode material

Zambaga Otgonbayar¹, K amrun Nahar Fatema¹, Md Nazmodduha Rafat¹, Jihyeon Ryu⁴, Sun‑Hye Yang², Ick‑Jun Kim², Won‑Chun Oh^1,3

¹Department of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Hanseo University, Seosan‑si 356‑706, Chungnam, Korea
²Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Changwon‑si 641‑120, Kyungnam, Korea
³College of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, People’s Republic of China
⁴Department of Electro‑Functionality Materials Engineering, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea

Correspondence

Won‑Chun Oh ,Email: wc_oh@hanseo.ac.kr

Received: March 14, 2020; Revised: April 30, 2020 Accepted: May 6, 2020. Published online: September 30, 2020.

ABSTRACT

The goal of this study was to analyse the impact of a combination of a sub-active material (KMnO₄) with surface modification to the activated carbon surface for enhanced cathode performance. Activated carbon with ultra-specific surface area (USAC, TCK-PBM, 2560.4 m²/g) was used for the preparation of our composite with potassium permanganate (KMnO₄). The physical characteristics of this As-treated USAC sample were analysed through XRD, SEM and EDX analysis. The XRD analysis was used to examine structural properties; surface analysis undertaken by SEM; EDX analysis was used to measure the metal content of the sample as well as the content after treatment with KMnO₄. It was shown USAC treated with KMnO₄ had more than a 10.5 μg acidic group by the Boehm titration method. The electrochemical properties of KMnO₄-USAC were investigated for varying electrolyte concentration (0.1, 0.5, 1.2 and 6 M) at ambient temperature (25 °C) and the electrode showed great electrochemical performance after ten cycles.

Key words: Ultra-surface area activated carbon (USAC) · Sub-active material · Secondary battery electrode ·Electrochemical performance