Are Functional Groups Beneficial or Harmful on the Electrochemical Performance of Activated Carbon Electrodes?

It is a common opinion that activated carbon (AC) should be functional groups-free when employed as capacitor-type material in organic electrolytes. This work analyzes in detail the relationship between the electrochemical performance of modified activated carbon electrodes and the introduced functional groups in two organic electrolytes containing lithium salts:1M LiPF6 in EC-DMC (the commercial LP30) and 1M LiTFSI in EC-DMC. The surface functional groups (especially C=O or O–C=O) can induce higher capacitance to AC (more than 50% increase compared to commercial unmodified AC), whereas the rate capability dramatically decreases. The appropriate amount of functional groups is helpful to expand the electrochemical stability window in LP30 (2.8–2.9 V), that is responsible for the high energy and power density. Moreover, the proper functional groups inhibit the potential shift of the AC electrode. However, a large number of functionalities can result in a high amount of irreversible redox products remaining in the pores of AC, which leads to a faster capacitance fade respect to materials with less functional groups.