Supercapacitor and nanoscale research towards electrochemical energy storage

Abstract

Electrochemical capacitors, also known as supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, have received much attention from research and development to industrialization, owing to their promise to deliver high levels of electrical power and offer long operating lifetimes. They are considered ideal candidates for energy storage in high-power applications. Benefiting from intensive nanoscale research in recent decades, remarkable improvements and development of supercapacitive energy storage systems have been achieved. Both the energy density and power density for supercapacitors have been substantially improved. In this review article, we endeavor to assess the profound impacts of nanoscale research on the development of supercapacitors, in terms of the substantial improvement of capacitive performance for electrode materials, and revolutionary advances in electrode and device configurations. In addition, recent progress in basic energy storage mechanisms and prototypes of supercapacitors are also reviewed, including a new kinetically-favored intercalation mechanism introduced for the first time. The review concludes with descriptions of the demonstration of already-realized practical applications of commercially-available supercapacitor devices, especially focusing on real usage in vehicles that are highly anticipated by future communities to further heighten the wide attention on clean energy storage systems.

NiCo 2 O 4 decorated PANI–CNTs composites as supercapacitive electrode materials

“…Another class of active electrode materials for supercapacitors is transition metal oxides like NiO, Co 3 O 4 , ZnO, MnO 2 etc. [17][18][19] . Studies have revealed that binary mixed oxides of transition metal * Corresponding author.…”

Nanocomposite of hexagonal β-Ni(OH)2/multiwalled carbon nanotubes as high performance electrode for hybrid supercapacitors

“…where 'E' is the energy density in Wh/Kg, 'C' is the specific capacitance in F/g and 'V' is the potential P ¼ E t (7) where 'P' is the power density in W/Kg and't' is the discharge time in seconds A plot of energy and the corresponding power density at different current densities such as 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2.5 and 5 A g À1 are given in Fig. 12 [42].…”

“…The carbon materials have been investigated for their supercapacitance properties owing to their mesoporous/ microporous structure which allows easy diffusion of ions and adaptability of these materials for volumetric changes during charge and discharge cycles thus improving the cyclability [7,8]. Even though the surface area of these carbon materials is high, all of it is not accessible to electrolytic solution consequently lowering specific capacitance and energy density [9].…”

Smart polymer nanocomposites: A review

“…Smart materials are attracting increasing interest especially in the era of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) and circular economy. Smart polymer nanocomposites (SPN) which can be derived from shape memory polymer [3][4][5][6], stimuli-active polymers [7], smart electrorheological (ER) and magnetorheological (MR) polymer [8][9][10][11], self-healing polymer [12,13], self-cleaning polymer [14][15][16][17], self-heating polymer [18], self-sensing polymer [19], energy-harvesting and energy storage polymer [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] are the latest hot research topics. The addition of nanofiller can increase the performance of the SPN (e.g., shape fixity, shape recovery, self-healing ability) due to their high specific surface area, nucleating effects, reinforcing effects, and inherent functionalities (e.g., thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity) [3].…”