Colorado State University Research Foundation

Kevin Klunder

Charles Sherman Henry

A new solvent-based method is presented for making low-cost composite graphite electrodes containing a thermoplastic binder. The electrodes, termed thermoplastic electrodes (TPEs), are easy to fabricate and pattern, give excellent electrochemical performance, and have high conductivity (1500 S m). The thermoplastic binder enables the electrodes to be hot embossed, molded, templated, and/or cut with a COlaser into a variety of intricate patterns. These electrodes show a marked improvement in peak current, peak separation, and resistance to charge transfer over traditional carbon electrodes. The impact of electrode composition, surface treatment (sanding, polishing, plasma treatment), and graphite source were found to impact fabrication, patterning, conductivity, and electrochemical performance. Under optimized conditions, electrodes generated responses similar to more expensive and difficult to fabricate graphene and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrodes. These TPE electrodes provide an approach for fabricating high-performance carbon electrodes with applications ranging from sensing to batteries.

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Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

Kevin Klunder