The science and technology of ultracapacitors are reviewed for a number of electrode materials, including carbon, mixed metal oxides, and conducting polymers. More work has been done using microporous carbons than with the other materials and most of the commercially available devices use carbon electrodes and an organic electrolytes. The energy density of these devices is 3¯5 Wh/kg with a power density of 300¯500 W/kg for high efficiency (90¯95%) charge/discharges. Projections of future developments using carbon indicate that energy densities of 10 Wh/kg or higher are likely with power densities of 1¯2 kW/kg. A key problem in the fabrication of these advanced devices is the bonding of the thin electrodes to a current collector such the contact resistance is less than 0.1 cm2. Special attention is given in the paper to comparing the power density characteristics of ultracapacitors and batteries. The comparisons should be made at the same charge/discharge efficiency.

Ultracapacitors: Why, How, and Where is the Technology

Electrospinning is a versatile and viable technique for generating ultrathin fibers. Remarkable progress has been made with regard to the development of electrospinning methods and engineering of electrospun nanofibers to suit or enable various applications. We aim to provide a comprehensive overview of electrospinning, including the principle, methods, materials, and applications. We begin with a brief introduction to the early history of electrospinning, followed by discussion of its principle and typical apparatus. We then discuss its renaissance over the past two decades as a powerful technology for the production of nanofibers with diversified compositions, structures, and properties. Afterward, we discuss the applications of electrospun nanofibers, including their use as "smart" mats, filtration membranes, catalytic supports, energy harvesting/conversion/storage components, and photonic and electronic devices, as well as biomedical scaffolds. We highlight the most relevant and recent advances related to the applications of electrospun nanofibers by focusing on the most representative examples. We also offer perspectives on the challenges, opportunities, and new directions for future development. At the end, we discuss approaches to the scale-up production of electrospun nanofibers and briefly discuss various types of commercial products based on electrospun nanofibers that have found widespread use in our everyday life.

Electrospinning and Electrospun Nanofibers: Methods, Materials, and Applications

Oil spills and industrial organic pollutants have induced severe water pollution and threatened every species in the ecological system. To deal with oily water, special wettability stimulated materials have been developed over the past decade to separate oil-and-water mixtures. Basically, synergy between the surface chemical composition and surface topography are commonly known as the key factors to realize the opposite wettability to oils and water and dominate the selective wetting or absorption of oils/water. In this review, we mainly focus on the development of materials with either super-lyophobicity or super-lyophilicity properties in oil/water separation applications where they can be classified into four kinds as follows (in terms of the surface wettability of water and oils): (i) superhydrophobic and superoleophilic materials, (ii) superhydrophilic and under water superoleophobic materials, (iii) superhydrophilic and superoleophobic materials, and (iv) smart oil/water separation materials with switchable wettability. These materials have already been applied to the separation of oil-and-water mixtures: from simple oil/water layered mixtures to oil/water emulsions (including oil-in-water emulsions and water-in-oil emulsions), and from non-intelligent materials to intelligent materials. Moreover, they also exhibit high absorption capacity or separation efficiency and selectivity, simple and fast separation/absorption ability, excellent recyclability, economical efficiency and outstanding durability under harsh conditions. Then, related theories are proposed to understand the physical mechanisms that occur during the oil/water separation process. Finally, some challenges and promising breakthroughs in this field are also discussed. It is expected that special wettability stimulated oil/water separation materials can achieve industrial scale production and be put into use for oil spills and industrial oily wastewater treatment in the near future.

Biomimetic super-lyophobic and super-lyophilic materials applied for oil/water separation: a new strategy beyond nature

A comprehensive review summarizing the effect of electrospinning parameters and potential applications of nanofibers in biomedical and biotechnology

CuO nanostructures: Synthesis, characterization, growth mechanisms, fundamental properties, and applications

A superhydrophobic fabric coating made of a crosslinked polydimethylsiloxane elastomer, containing well-dispersed hydrophobic silica nanoparticles and fluorinated alkyl silane, shows remarkable durability against repeated machine washes, severe abrasion, strong acid or base, boiling water or beverages and excellent stain resistance.

Fluoroalkyl silane modified silicone rubber/nanoparticle composite: a super durable, robust superhydrophobic fabric coating.

A robust, superamphiphobic fabric with a novel self-healing ability to autorepair from chemical damage is prepared by a two-step wet-chemistry coating technique using an easily available material system consisting of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene), fluoroalkyl silane, and modified silica nanoparticles. The coated fabrics can withstand at least 600 cycles of standard laundry and 8000 cycles of abrasion without apparently changing the superamphiphobicity. The coating is also very stable to strong acid/base, ozone, and boiling treatments. After being damaged chemically, the coating can restore its super liquid-repellent properties by a short-time heating treatment or room temperature ageing. This simple but novel and effective coating system may be useful for the development of robust protective clothing for various applications.

Robust, self-healing superamphiphobic fabrics prepared by two-step coating of fluoro-containing polymer, fluoroalkyl silane, and modified silica nanoparticles

Polymeric nanofiber non-woven materials produced by electrospinning have extremely high surface-to-mass (or volume) ratio and a porous structure with excellent pore-interconnectivity. These characteristics plus the functionalities and surface chemistry of the polymer itself impart the nanofibers with desirable properties for a range of advanced applications. This review summarizes the recent progress in electrospun nanofibers, with an emphasis on their applications.

Applications of electrospun nanofibers

Polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers were prepared by a needleless electrospinning technique using a rotating spiral wire coil as spinneret. The influences of coil dimension (e.g., coil length, coil diameter, spiral distance, and wire diameter) and operating parameters (e.g., applied voltage and spinning distance) on electrospinning process, nanofiber diameter, and fiber productivity were examined. It was found that the coil dimension had a considerable influence on the nanofiber production rate, but minor effect on the fiber diameter. The fiber production rate increased with the increased coil length or coil diameter, or the reduced spiral distance or wire diameter. Higher applied voltage or shorter collecting distance also improved the fiber production rate but had little influence on the fiber diameter. Compared with the conventional needle electrospinning, the coil electrospinning produced finer fibers with a narrower diameter distribution. A finite element method was used to analyze the electric field on the coil surface and in electrospinning zone. It was revealed that the high electric field intensity was concentrated on the coil surface, and the intensity was highly dependent on the coil dimension, which can be used to explain the electrospinning performances of coils. In addition, PAN nanofibers were prepared using the same needleless electrospinning technique to verify the improvement in productivity.

https://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2012/785920.pdf

Needleless electrospinning of uniform nanofibers using spiral coil spinnerets

Existing coating systems for preparing superamphiphobic surfaces are predominantly confined to small-scale uses due to the heavy use of organic solvents. Waterborne coating treatment is highly desirable for the high safety, low cost, and nonenvironmental impact, but it remains difficult to develop due to the problems in forming durable, homogeneous coating from an aqueous dispersion of amphiphobic substances. In this study, the authors have proved that lyophobic nanoparticles, fluorinated alkyl silane (FAS), and fluorocarbon surfactant can form a stable dispersion in water, suitable for preparing durable superamphiphobic surfaces on various solid substrates. A series of substrates including fabrics, sponge, wood, glass, and metal, after being coated with this ternary coating system, shows superamphiphobicity with low contact angle hysteresis. The coating is durable enough against physical abrasion, repeated washing, boiling in water, and strong acid/base attacks. Benefiting from FAS, the coating also has a self-healing ability against both physical and chemical damages. The unexpected stability of the ternary dispersion is a result of the synergistic interaction of the three ingredients. Results from this study may promote the wide development of safe and cost-efficient superamphiphobic techniques for diverse applications.

Haitao Niu

Papers

Fluoroalkyl silane modified silicone rubber/nanoparticle composite: a super durable, robust superhydrophobic fabric coating.

Robust, self-healing superamphiphobic fabrics prepared by two-step coating of fluoro-containing polymer, fluoroalkyl silane, and modified silica nanoparticles

Applications of electrospun nanofibers

Needleless electrospinning of uniform nanofibers using spiral coil spinnerets

A Waterborne Coating System for Preparing Robust, Self-healing, Superamphiphobic Surfaces