Yttrium Oxide-Catalyzed Formation of Electrically Conductive Carbon for Supercapacitors

The development of electrically conductive and high surface area carbon is important for the improvement of supercapacitor energy densities. Yttrium hydroxide microspindles were prepared and shown to catalyze carbon growth. The carbon exhibited a high surface area of 932 m2/g and high conductivity of 2.2 × 105 S/m. The carbon/yttrium oxide interface was probed using XPS, Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and solid-state fluorescence....