Application of carbon nanotubes directly grown on aluminum foils as electric double layer capacitor electrodes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are directly grown by catalytic (C)CVD on Al foils with various surface morphologies to make hybrid electrodes for electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs). A simple drop-coating procedure is used for the deposition of the Fe/Al-based catalyst. It is found that the surface topography of the Al foil is a governing factor for the growth of CNTs, their alignment, and adhesion to the current collector. Prepared electrodes achieve a specific capacitance up to 11.2 F g−1, which is found to be weakly sensitive to the alignment of the CNTs. Discussion of parameters that influence the properties of the resulting EDLCs is presented.