Abstract:
Production and storage of energy in a highly efficient and
environmentally sustainable way is a demand of the current century to
meet the growing global energy requirement. Design and development
of novel materials and processes that allow precise control over the
electrochemical behavior and conductivity of electrolytes is necessary for
acquiring such targets. Development of ionic liquid crystals with ordered
domains endowed with enhanced ionic conductivity from renewable
resources is receiving much interest in this respect. In this paper, we
report a unique strategy for the preparation and utilization of ionic liquid
crystalline electrolyte derived from a renewable resource: cashew nut
shell liquid; an abundantly available waste byproduct from cashew
industry. We have prepared imidazolium-based ionic liquid crystal
(PMIMP) from cardanol and studied its structure and liquid crystalline
phase formation by various techniques. The symmetrical supercapacitor
fabricated with mesoporous carbon electrodes employing PMIMP as electrolyte measured a specific capacitance of 131.43 F/g at
a current density of 0.37 A/g with excellent cycle stability and 80% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles. All these excellent
properties of the prepared ionic liquid crystalline electrolyte suggest its application as an efficient, environmentally friendly and
low-cost electrolyte for energy storage devices
