Electrochemical and structural performances of carbon and glass fiber-reinforced structural supercapacitor composite at elevated temperatures

The structural supercapacitor can store electrical energy and withstand structural loads while saving substantial weight in many structural applications. This study investigated the development of a structural supercapacitor with a fiber-reinforced polymer composite system and explored the operating temperature’s influence on its performance. The electrochemical and mechanical properties of structural supercapacitors beyond the ambient temperature have not yet been studied; hence, evaluating parameters such as specific capacitance, energy density, cycle life, and structural performance at elevated temperatures are highly desired. We have designed and manufactured single and parallelly connected multilayer structural supercapacitor composites in this research. Carbon fibers were used as a bifunctional component, acting both as a current collector while acting as a mechanical reinforcement. In addition, glass fibers were added as the separator which is also acting as an integral reinforcement. The electrochemical and mechanical behavior of structural supercapacitors at elevated temperatures up to 85 °C were experimentally investigated. The test results revealed that at room temperature, the developed double-cell structural supercapacitor, which demonstrated an area-specific capacitance of 1.16 mF cm−2 and energy density of 0.36 mWh cm−2 at 0.24 mA cm−2, which are comparable to current achievements in structural supercapacitor research. The structural supercapacitor’s tensile, flexural, and compression strengths were measured as 109.5 MPa, 47.0 MPa, and 50.4 MPa, respectively. The specific capacitance and energy density reached 2.58 mF cm−2 and 0.81 mWh cm−2, while tensile, flexural, and compression strengths were reduced to 70.9 MPa, 14.2 MPa, and 8.8 MPa, respectively, at 85 °C. These findings provide new comprehensive knowledge on structural supercapacitor devices suitable for applications operating within a temperature range from ambient conditions to 85 °C.