Electrochemically activated C-MEMS electrodes for on-chip micro-supercapacitors

1. A method for forming an electrochemical double layer capacitor, comprising:

electrochemically activating a surface of a C-MEMS carbon structure in the presence of 0.1 M to 2 M acid in an aqueous solution by exposing the surface to an electrochemical cell to increase the surface area of the C-MEMS carbon structure by at least 100-fold and thereby increase the double layer capacitance of the C-MEMS carbon structure, wherein electrochemically activating the surface of the C-MEMS comprises:

anodizing the surface of the C-MEMS carbon structure by applying a positive voltage using the electrochemical cell; and

negatively polarizing the anodized C-MEMS carbon structure by applying a negative voltage using the electrochemical cell, and wherein

the C-MEMS carbon structure is a patterned and pyrolized negative tone photoresist polymer, and the pattern of the patterned and pyrolized negative tone photoresist polymer is created through a photolithography process.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activating further comprises applying a voltage of from 1.5 to 4 V with respect to a Ag/AgCl reference electrode.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the positive voltage is applied for about 15 minutes to about 45 min.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acid comprises sulfuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, or a mixture thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acid has a concentration of about 0.5 M to about 2 M.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the increase in surface area is 500 times or greater than the surface area of the C-MEMS carbon structure prior to activation.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming the C-MEMS carbon structure by

spin coating a negative tone photoresist polymer on a substrate;

exposing the negative tone photoresist polymer to UV light to form a first intermediate;

spin coating a second negative tone photoresist polymer on the first intermediate to form a second intermediate; and

exposing the second intermediate to UV light and pyrolizing the resulting material to form the C-MEMS carbon structure.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising:

applying a positive voltage of 1.9 V with respect to a Ag/AgCl reference electrode for about 10 minutes to about 30 minutes in the presence of a 0.5M aqueous sulfuric acid solution to the C-MEMS carbon structure; and

negatively polarizing the C-MEMS carbon structure by applying a potential difference of −0.3 V.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the negative tone photoresist polymer comprises SU-8.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the negative tone photoresist polymer comprises SU-8.

11. A method of activating a surface of a C-MEMS carbon structure to form an electrochemical double layer capacitor comprising:

applying a voltage of 1.5 to 4 V with respect to a Ag/AgCI reference electrode to the surface for about 15 minutes to about 45 minutes in the;

negatively polarizing the C-MEMS carbon structure by applying a potential difference;

and wherein the C-MEMS carbon structure is a patterned and pyrolized negative tone photoresist polymer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the negative tone photoresist polymer comprises SU-8.

13. A method of activating a surface of a C-MEMS carbon structure to form an electrochemical double layer capacitor, comprising:

applying a positive voltage with respect to a Ag/AgCl reference electrode to the C-MEMS carbon structure in the presence of a 0.1 M to 2 M acid in an aqueous solution for at least 10 minutes to produce an anodized C-MEMS carbon structure;

negatively polarizing the anodized C-MEMS carbon structure by applying a negative voltage with respect to a Ag/AgCl reference electrode to produce a C-MEMS carbon structure having increased double-layer capacitance.