Date of Award

5-10-2017

Major

Physics

Faculty Advisor

Talapatra, Saikat

Abstract

Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors (EDLCs), also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, have gained much attention in the furthering of research into electronic devices and energy storage. Supercapacitors bridge the “gap” between conventional capacitors and batteries, and are of interest to furthering technology in alternative clean energy, transportation, and other areas of electronics. Nanomaterials are of interest in building these devices due to the presence of very high specific surface areas, unique electrical properties, and/or light-weight and flexible, but strong, structures. The goal of this project was to evaluate electrode materials for supercapacitor devices made from a composite of atomically thin layers of Graphene and Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2). Both materials were synthesized using a liquid phase exfoliation method via ultrasonication. The devices built with the composite materials (of varying concentrations) were tested using various electrochemical methods including cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge to determine electrochemical properties and performance of the supercapacitors. The major motivation of this project was to optimize the concentration of MoS2/Graphene composite electrode to which gives the top electrical performance as a supercapacitor electrode.

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