Hierarchical cellulose-derived carbon nanocomposites for electrostatic energy storage

Research paper in the proceedings of The 15th International Conference on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2015), Boston, USA, 1–4 December, 2015.

The problem of energy storage and its continuous delivery on demand needs new effective solutions. Supercapacitors are viewed as essential devices for solving this problem since they can quickly provide high power basically countless number of times. The performance of supercapacitors is mostly dependent on the properties of electrode materials used for electrostatic charge accumulation, i.e. energy storage. This study presents new sustainable cellulose-derived materials that can be used as electrodes for supercapacitors. Nanofibrous carbon nanofiber (CNF) mats were covered with vapor-grown carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in order to get composite CNF/CNT electrode material. The resulting composite material had significantly higher surface area and was much more conductive than pure CNF material. The performance of the CNF/CNT electrodes was evaluated by various analysis methods such as cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic stability. The results showed that the cellulose-derived composite electrodes have fairly high values of specific capacitance and power density and can retain excellent performance over at least 2,000 cycles. Therefore it can be stated that sustainable cellulose-derived CNF/CNT composites are prospective materials for supercapacitor electrodes.

Related news and insights

General

cultivation-of-precisely-placed-carbon-nanofibres

What is a carbon nanofiber (CNF)?

Carbon nanofibers is a supermaterial. It is stronger, more elastic, and lighter than steel. It conducts heat and electricity better than metals. And it can be used to thousandfold the surface of materials. Let’s take a closer look at these tiny fellows.

Hydrogen

Carbon nanofibers in hydrogen electrolysis and fuel cells

Carbon nanofibers in hydrogen electrolysis & fuel cells Hydrogen has emerged as a key to store renewable energy and making heavy industry carbon-free. Two application areas of immediate vital importance. The core technologies that make this possible are hydrogen electrolysis and fuel cells. Electrolysis converts electricity into hydrogen, while fuel cells convert the hydrogen back to electricity.

General

Smoltek—from carbon nanofibers to mind-controlled robotic prostheses

Smoltek holds unique world patents for technologies that make material engineering on an atomic level possible. Smoltek has solutions that allow continued miniaturization and increased performance of semiconductors, contribute to carbon-free steel production and renewable energy storage, and enable mind control of robotic prostheses. This is a story of how Smoltek came to be.

Research

Carbon nanomaterial-based interconnects, integrated capacitors and supercapacitors

PhD thesis, Chalmers Univeristy of Technology, 2017.

Semiconductor

Breaking barriers: The future

This is the third and last article in a series of three in which Smoltek founder and strategic advisor Shafiq Kabir share his personal thoughts on nanotechnology opportunities. In the previous two articles, he has addressed both the hype and the reality of carbon nanotechnology. In this last article, he looks into the future. He discusses how carbon nanotechnology will unleash the power of the internet of everything.