Use of a zeolite slurry to increase the charge retention of a low-cost aqueous supercapacitor

To increase the viability of renewable energy technology, improvements must be made to existing energy storage devices. One such device is the supercapacitor, which is able to store energy like a battery, but with faster charge-discharge times and increased cyclability. The two main factors limiting the widespread use of supercapacitor technology are the high component cost and high rate of self-discharge. In this project, both of these aspects were addressed, and a supercapacitor was successfully constructed using a carbon black slurry containing zeolitic structures with a pore size of 4 Å to accommodate the electrolyte ions of potassium and chloride.  Low-cost materials and production methods were used to create a supercapacitor with a measured capacitance of 17.25 F g⁻¹ and a coulombic efficiency of 100% determined by galvanostatic charge-discharge curve measurements.