Densely Packed and Highly Ordered Carbon Flower Particles for High Volumetric Performance

Abstract

Carbon materials with high specific surface areas are ideal support materials for many applications. However, high specific surface area and large pore volume usually render them with low bulk density, which is undesirable for applications aiming at high volumetric performance. Low bulk density stems from large interparticle‐free volume caused by inefficient random packing within the materials. Herein, a simple synthesis and assembly method is reported to afford dense carbon pellets with both high specific surface area and high bulk density, obtained from the ordered packing of low polydispersity carbon flower particles. The densely packed carbon flower particles exhibit similar specific surface area to their pressed powder analogs, while exhibiting a 66–84% increase in bulk density (0.815 g cm−3), and an ultrahigh volumetric surface area (1081 m2 cm−3). The advantages of our materials are demonstrated by supercapacitors, which achieve a high volumetric capacitance of up to 153 F cm−3. The results reinforce the importance of controlling particle size and shape for porous materials to reduce their bulk volume. The developed materials possessing high volumetric surface area will be useful for many applications, such as gas storage, supercapacitors, and batteries.

Formation Mechanism of Flower-like Polyacrylonitrile Particles

“…In certain solvents, flower-like nanostructures with uniform particle sizes were obtained . These flower-like particles further self-assembled into long-range ordered colloidal crystals during the reaction . The flower-like nanostructured PAN particles have shown improved performance compared to that of solid spherical particles in applications for sensors, catalysis, separation, and energy storage. ,− Meanwhile, their simple one-step synthesis during the polymerization reaction makes it promising for future large-scale industrial production.…”

“…These flower-like particles further self-assembled into long-range ordered colloidal crystals during the reaction . The flower-like nanostructured PAN particles have shown improved performance compared to that of solid spherical particles in applications for sensors, catalysis, separation, and energy storage. ,− Meanwhile, their simple one-step synthesis during the polymerization reaction makes it promising for future large-scale industrial production. However, the formation process of the unique flower-like structure in a simple one-pot polymerization process has not been investigated.…”

Adina Rubella‐Like Microsized SiO@N‐Doped Carbon Grafted with N‐Doped Carbon Nanotubes as Anodes for High‐Performance Lithium Storage

“…The initial Coulomb efficiencies (ICE) of SiO@NC‐NCNTs, SiO@NCNTs, and SiO are 53%, 63%, and 51%, and the lower ICE is mainly attributed to the relatively high surface area of SiO@NC‐NCNT, which consumes a lot of electrolytes in the early stage, and the generation of the SEI film. [ 33,34 ] In the third cycle, the coulomb efficiency of SiO@NC‐NCNTs increases rapidly to 91.7%, and from the fifth cycle, the coulomb efficiency is stable at above 96.7%, showing good reversibility.…”

Ti3C2Tx MXene-Based Micro-Supercapacitors with Ultrahigh Volumetric Energy Density for All-in-One Si-Electronics

“…With the development of microelectronic devices toward miniaturization and high integration, it is urgent to develop corresponding integrated on-chip energy storage devices, especially silicon-compatible devices, to provide required power for these microelectronic units and microsensors. − Compared with micro battery, on-chip microsupercapacitors (MSCs) with interdigital architecture have become the most viable potential candidate due to their short-term energy storage, burst-mode power delivery, and sustained cycling stability. − However, restricted energy density always hinders the practical application of MSCs. In general, the energy density is calculated by the equation: E = 1/2 CV 2 .…”