Abstract Vanadium carbide embedded in mesoporous carbon (VC–MC) is prepared using an in-situ synthesis method as hybrid electrode for supercapacitor. The electrochemical performance of the VC and VC–MC electrodes are analyzed and compared through a combination of cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements in 1 M H2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The introduced mesoporous structure of the hybrid electrode provides optimized conducting pathways for electrons and protons, thus improving the capacitive performance of VC–MC electrode compared to pristine VC electrode. The synthesized VC–MC electrode achieves a specific capacitance up to 191.2 F g−1, which is significantly higher than the pristine VC electrode (95.6 F g−1). Moreover, the VC–MC hybrid electrode exhibits an excellent cycle performance with 89.5% capacitance retention after 10,000 charge–discharge cycles, considerably higher than the pristine VC electrode. Apparently, the VC–MC hybrid electrode which shows desirable capacitive performance, excellent stability and enhanced electrochemical properties can be attributable to the combination of the advantages possessed by MC and VC. Moreover, VC–MC was applied as counter electrode in flexible dye-sensitized solar cell which generate power conversion efficiencies of 6.50%, much higher than those of the devices using VC and MC counter electrodes (4.14% and 5.28%).

中文翻译：

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为超级电容器和染料敏化太阳能电池设计嵌入介孔碳电极的双功能碳化钒

摘要 使用原位合成方法制备了嵌入介孔碳（VC-MC）的碳化钒作为超级电容器的混合电极。VC 和 VC-MC 电极的电化学性能通过循环伏安法、恒电流充放电和电化学阻抗谱测量在 1 M H2SO4 水性电解质中的组合进行分析和比较。混合电极的介孔结构为电子和质子提供了优化的导电通路，从而提高了 VC-MC 电极与原始 VC 电极相比的电容性能。合成的 VC-MC 电极的比电容高达 191.2 F g-1，明显高于原始 VC 电极（95.6 F g-1）。而且，VC-MC 混合电极表现出优异的循环性能，10,000 次充放电循环后电容保持率为 89.5%，远高于原始 VC 电极。显然，VC-MC 混合电极显示出理想的电容性能、优异的稳定性和增强的电化学性能，这可归因于 MC 和 VC 所具有的优点的结合。此外，VC-MC 用作柔性染料敏化太阳能电池中的对电极，其产生的功率转换效率为 6.50%，远高于使用 VC 和 MC 对电极的器件（4.14% 和 5.28%）。优异的稳定性和增强的电化学性能可归因于 MC 和 VC 所具有的优点的结合。此外，VC-MC 用作柔性染料敏化太阳能电池中的对电极，其产生的功率转换效率为 6.50%，远高于使用 VC 和 MC 对电极的器件（4.14% 和 5.28%）。优异的稳定性和增强的电化学性能可归因于 MC 和 VC 所具有的优点的结合。此外，VC-MC 用作柔性染料敏化太阳能电池中的对电极，其产生的功率转换效率为 6.50%，远高于使用 VC 和 MC 对电极的器件（4.14% 和 5.28%）。