Design Considerations for Unconventional Electrochemical Energy Storage Architectures

Abstract

all need to be used in conjugation with an energy storage system to provide smooth power leveling. Currently, electrochemical energy storage systems are by far the most optimal solutions for powering a broad range of technologies, expanding from compact and light-weighted portable electronic devices to stationary gridscale energy storage applications. [3][4][5][6] These energy storage devices (batteries and supercapacitors) store the available electrical energy in the form of chemical energy and release it whenever needed, by simply reversing the electrochemical reaction. [7][8][9][10][11] Among various available battery chemistries, lithium batteries and supercapacitors are the most promising technologies. [ 7,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Ever since the realization of the fi rst electrochemical energy storage cell by Alessandro Volta (end of 17th century), the working principle and its function has changed very little. [ 21,22 ] Basically, two redox couples (or charge storage electrodes), electrically and physically separated, are bridged by an ion conducting medium to constitute an electrochemical cell. This holds true also for modern Li-ion batteries, although the chemistry involved is much more complex. During operation, the electrons are transferred through an external circuit while ions shuttle through the electrolyte to counterbalance the depleted charge at the electrodes. [ 23 ] So far, much of the effort has been directed towards improvement of the energy and power characteristics by downsizing the active components, re-engineering the current collectors and separators, as well as fi ne-tuning the Batteries have become fundamental building blocks for the mobility of modern society. Continuous development of novel battery chemistries and electrode materials has nourished progress in building better batteries. Simultaneously, novel device form factors and designs with multi-functional components have been proposed, requiring batteries to not only integrate seamlessly to these devices, but to also be a multi-functional component for a multitude of applications. Thus, in the past decade, along with developments in the component materials, the focus has been shifting more and more towards novel fabrication processes, unconventional confi gurations, and additional functionalities. This work attempts to critically review the developments with respect to emerging electrochemical energy storage confi gurations, including, amongst others, paintable, transparent, fl exible, wire or cable shaped, ultra-thin and ultra-thick confi gurations, as well as hybrid energy storage-conversion, or graphene-incorporated batteries and supercapacitors. The performance requirements are elaborated together with the advantages, but also the limitations, with respect to established electrochemical energy storage technologies. Finally, challenges in developing novel materials with tailored properties that would allow such confi gurations, and in designing easier manufacturing techniques that can be widely adopted ar...

Construction of nitrogen-doped porous carbon buildings using interconnected ultra-small carbon nanosheets for ultra-high rate supercapacitors

“…Thus, the design of novel carbon electrode materials with both high power density and high energy density properties is necessary. [8][9][10][11] Activated carbon materials (ACs) are widely employed as electrode materials in electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) due to their high specific surface area, adjustable porosity, moderate cost and abundance of raw material. 12,13 Although ACs have a high surface area of ~3000 m 2 g -1 , their specific capacitances are lower than 300 F g -1 and their rate performances are also very poor.…”

Electrochromic energy storage devices

“…Smart windows, one of the most important types of electrochromic device [10], are essentially transparent rocking-chair batteries consisting of a pair of complementary intercalation layers on the transparent conducting glass, separated by an ion-conducting electrolyte. The similar features of electrochromic devices and batteries/ supercapacitors range from material properties, device construction, and reaction kinetics [11,12]. In this review, we will briefly introduce the mechanism of supercapacitors/batteries and electrochromism with particular focus on the integration and applications of electrochromic energy storage and the corresponding material candidates.…”

Nature‐Inspired Electrochemical Energy‐Storage Materials and Devices

“…(5) Further, exploitation of versatile smart energy-storage systems with artificial intelligence is of great scientific and technical significance in meeting the advanced demands in wide applications. [64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] By mimicking some natural features, e.g., self-healing ability of skin, self-rechargeable capability, some advanced energy-storage devices with similar features have been obtained. [74][75][76][77][78][79][80] In this review, we mainly focus on the typical progress in this emerging field of nature-inspired design and fabrication of energy-storage related materials and devices.…”