Mechanisms for self‐templating design of micro/nanostructures toward efficient energy storage

Abstract

The ever‐growing demand in modern power systems calls for the innovation in electrochemical energy storage devices so as to achieve both supercapacitor‐like high power density and battery‐like high energy density. Rational design of the micro/nanostructures of energy storage materials offers a pathway to finely tailor their electrochemical properties thereby enabling significant improvements in device performances and enormous strategies have been developed for synthesizing hierarchically structured active materials. Among all strategies, the direct conversion of precursor templates into target micro/nanostructures through physical and/or chemical processes is facile, controllable, and scalable. Yet the mechanistic understanding of the self‐templating method is lacking and the synthetic versatility for constructing complex architectures is inadequately demonstrated. This review starts with the introduction of five main self‐templating synthetic mechanisms and the corresponding constructed hierarchical micro/nanostructures. Subsequently, the structural merits provided by the well‐defined architectures for energy storage are elaborately discussed. At last, a summary of current challenges and future development of the self‐templating method for synthesizing high‐performance electrode materials is also presented.

Green Flexible Electronics: Natural Materials, Fabrication, and Applications

“…Batteries are a class of devices that work depending on the direct conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy. [193,194] Batteries with high energy densities are suitable for application in electric automobiles and renewable energy storage. [195,196] This section introduces three common types of batteries, namely metal-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, and metal-air batteries.…”

A Simple Route to Fabricate Ultralong and Uniform Polypyrrole Nanowires with High Electrochemical Capacitance for Supercapacitor Electrodes

“…Along with the increasing global demands for clean and safe renewable energy resources, there is an increasing demand to develop sustainable and environmentally friendly energy storage devices. − Supercapacitors (double capacitors and pseudocapacitors), as a type of energy storage device, have attracted extensive attention from scientists because of the unique features of high power density, long cycle life, fast charge–discharge characteristics, and environmental friendliness. − The conductive polymer is a type of ideal electrochemically active material for electrodes due to its excellent biocompatibility, favorable electrical properties, environmental stability, and reliable electrochemical stability. − Polypyrrole (PPy), one of the most typical conducting polymers, which is easy to synthesize, , has excellent conductivity (in the doped state), good environmental stability, good biocompatibility, relatively low cost, , and good redox reversibility. ,, However, the poor specific capacity of PPy particles limited their deeper development in high-performance supercapacitors. It was reported that the nanostructure and morphology of electrode materials have an important impact on their electrochemical energy storage properties .…”

NIR light‐propelled bullet‐shaped carbon hollow nanomotors with controllable shell thickness for the enhanced dye removal

“…[1][2][3][4][5] A variety of asymmetric architectures have been created, such as bowl-liked, [6][7][8][9][10] bottle-shaped, [11][12][13][14][15] yolkshell, [16][17][18][19][20] and others. [3,[21][22][23][24][25] In addition, the components of materials with asymmetric nanostructures mainly include silica, [26][27][28] carbon, and [29][30][31] metals. [32] For example,…”

“…[ 1–5 ] A variety of asymmetric architectures have been created, such as bowl‐liked, [ 6–10 ] bottle‐shaped, [ 11–15 ] yolk‐shell, [ 16–20 ] and others. [ 3,21–25 ] In addition, the components of materials with asymmetric nanostructures mainly include silica, [ 26–28 ] carbon, and [ 29–31 ] metals. [ 32 ] For example, Kong's group fabricated asymmetric porous hollow carbon nanoparticles with a solid hemispherical shell and another porous hemispherical shell by kinetics‐controlled interfacial assembly method.…”