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Electrical contact resistance (ECR) influences the electrochemical performance of porous electrodes made of stacked discrete materials (e.g., carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, etc.) for use in supercapacitors and rechargeable batteries. This study establishes a simple elasticity-conductivity model for the ECR of filaments in adhesive contact. The elastic deformation and size of electrical contact zone of the filaments are determined by using an adhesive contact model of filaments, and the ECR of adhesive filaments is obtained in explicit form. Dependencies of the ECR upon the filament geometries, surface energy, and elasticity are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter reports the fabrication and electrochemical properties of electrospun carbon nanofibers surface-grafted with vapor-grown carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as hierarchical electrodes for supercapacitors. The specific capacitance of the fabricated electrodes was measured up to 185 F/g at the low discharge current density of 625 mA/g; a decrease of 38% was detected at the high discharge current density of 2.5 A/g. The morphology and microstructure of the electrodes were examined by electron microscopy, and the unique connectivity of the hybrid nanomaterials was responsible for the high specific capacitance and low intrinsic contact electric resistance of the hierarchical electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]