Acrylamide based proton conducting polymer gel electrolyte for electric double layer capacitors

A new class of polymer gel electrolyte (PGE) was synthesized using acrylamide as host polymer and LiClO₄ as dopant. The polymer gel was subjected to electrochemical AC impedance analysis and thermal analysis. The polymer has conductivity in the order of 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at ambient temperature. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed the effect of dopant on host polymer matrix. A supercapacitor was fabricated using acrylamide based polymer gel electrolyte with activated carbon as electrode material and it was subjected to various electrochemical techniques like cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical AC impedance analysis and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests at various current densities. From cyclic voltammetry a specific capacitance of 28 F/g was obtained at a scan rate of 10 mV/s. The capacitor had good self-discharge behavior and good cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles. The coulombic efficiency was more than 95%. These results indicate that this acrylamide-based polymer gel electrolyte doped with LiClO₄ is a potential electrolyte for electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs).