Engineering three-dimensional hybrid supercapacitors and microsupercapacitors for high-performance integrated energy storage

Abstract

Supercapacitors now play an important role in the progress of hybrid and electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and military and space applications. There is a growing demand in developing hybrid supercapacitor systems to overcome the energy density limitations of the current generation of carbon-based supercapacitors. Here, we demonstrate 3D high-performance hybrid supercapacitors and microsupercapacitors based on graphene and MnO 2 by rationally designing the electrode microstructure and combining active materials with electrolytes that operate at high voltages. This results in hybrid electrodes with ultrahigh volumetric capacitance of over 1,100 F/cm 3 . This corresponds to a specific capacitance of the constituent MnO 2 of 1,145 F/g, which is close to the theoretical value of 1,380 F/g. The energy density of the full device varies between 22 and 42 Wh/l depending on the device configuration, which is superior to those of commercially available double-layer supercapacitors, pseudocapacitors, lithium-ion capacitors, and hybrid supercapacitors tested under the same conditions and is comparable to that of lead acid batteries. These hybrid supercapacitors use aqueous electrolytes and are assembled in air without the need for expensive "dry rooms" required for building today's supercapacitors. Furthermore, we demonstrate a simple technique for the fabrication of supercapacitor arrays for high-voltage applications. These arrays can be integrated with solar cells for efficient energy harvesting and storage systems.A s a result of the rapidly growing energy needs of modern life, the development of high-performance energy storage devices has gained significant attention. Supercapacitors are promising energy storage devices with properties intermediate between those of batteries and traditional capacitors, but they are being improved more rapidly than either (1). Over the past couple of decades, supercapacitors have become key components of everyday products by replacing batteries and capacitors in an increasing number of applications. Their high power density and excellent low-temperature performance have made them the technology of choice for backup power, cold starting, flash cameras, regenerative braking, and hybrid electric vehicles (2, 3). The future growth of this technology depends on further improvements in energy density, power density, calendar and cycle life, and production cost.According to their charge storage mechanism, supercapacitors are classified as either electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) or pseudocapacitors (2). In EDLCs, charge is stored through rapid adsorption-desorption of electrolyte ions on high-surfacearea carbon materials, whereas pseudocapacitors store charge via fast and reversible Faradaic reactions near the surface of metal oxides or conducting polymers. The majority of supercapacitors currently available in the market are symmetric EDLCs featuring activated carbon electrodes and organic electrolytes that provide cell voltages as high as 2.7 V. Although these EDLCs exhibit high...

Recent advances in flexible supercapacitors based on carbon nanotubes and graphene

“…With the electrodeposition of MnO 2 onto the laser scribed graphene, the specific capacitance of resulting microsupercapacitor can be improved to 0.8 F cm −2 . Moreover, the microsupercapacitor can be directly connected with a solar cell to achieve energy harvesting and storage in a single device [105].…”

Study of Electrical Conductivity of Thermally Reduced Graphene Oxide

“…The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is inferior to graphene in its electrical and thermal properties, but in spite of that it attracts interest of many researchers. This interest is due to capabilities of use of RGO as transparent electrodes, photodetectors, elements of power sources and others [2][3][4][5][6].…”

Wearable energy-smart ribbons for synchronous energy harvest and storage

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