Recent advancements in supercapacitor technology

Over the past decade, electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices have greatly improved, as a wide variety of advanced electrode active materials and new device architectures have been developed. These new materials and devices should be evaluated against clear and rigorous metrics, primarily based on the evidence of real performances. A series of criteria are commonly used to characterize and report performance of EES systems in the literature. However, as advanced EES systems are becoming more and more sophisticated, the methodologies to reliably evaluate the performance of the electrode active materials and EES devices need to be refined to realize the true promise as well as the limitations of these fast-moving technologies, and target areas for further development. In the absence of a commonly accepted core group of metrics, inconsistencies may arise between the values attributed to the materials or devices and their real performances. Herein, we provide an overview of the energy storage devices from conventional capacitors to supercapacitors to hybrid systems and ultimately to batteries. The metrics for evaluation of energy storage systems are described, although the focus is kept on capacitive and hybrid energy storage systems. In addition, we discuss the challenges that still need to be addressed for establishing more sophisticated criteria for evaluating EES systems. We hope this effort will foster ongoing dialog and promote greater understanding of these metrics to develop an international protocol for accurate assessment of EES systems.

Towards establishing standard performance metrics for batteries, supercapacitors and beyond.

With the increasing energy demand and the overconsumption of fossil fuels, renewable energy-storage devices with higher efficiency are of great interest. In particular, supercapacitors have recently gained significant attention due to their excellent charge–discharge performance, long-term cycle lifetimes, and high specific power. In addition, supercapacitors could also make up the difference in energy and power between batteries and traditional capacitors. In the future, the promising family of transition metal oxides (TMOs) will play a significant role in environmentally friendly, low-cost, and high-powered energy storage. Furthermore, one-dimensional (1D) and one-dimensional-analogue nanostructures could remarkably enhance the characteristic properties of TMOs. In this review, we focused on the recent progress in the preparation and electrochemical properties of the next-generation supercapacitors.

Transition metal oxides with one-dimensional/one-dimensional-analogue nanostructures for advanced supercapacitors

Designing nanoscale components and units into functional defined systems and materials has recently received attention as a nanoarchitectonics approach. In particular, exploration of nanoarchitectonics in two-dimensions (2D) has made great progress these days. Basically, 2D nanomaterials are a center of interest owing to the large surface areas suitable for a variety of surface active applications. The increasing demands for alternative energy generation have significantly promoted the rational design and fabrication of a variety of 2D nanomaterials since the discovery of graphene. In 2D nanomaterials, the charge carriers are confined along the thickness while being allowed to move along the plane. Owing to the large planar area, 2D nanomaterials are highly sensitive to external stimuli, a characteristic suitable for a variety of surface active applications including electrochemistry. Because of the unique structures and multifunctionalities, 2D nanomaterials have stimulated great interest in the field of...

/pdf/two-dimensional-2d-nanomaterials-towards-electrochemical-239r8e7kr8.pdf

Two-Dimensional (2D) Nanomaterials towards Electrochemical Nanoarchitectonics in Energy-Related Applications

During femtosecond laser fabrication, photons are mainly absorbed by electrons, and the subsequent energy transfer from electrons to ions is of picosecond order. Hence, lattice motion is negligible within the femtosecond pulse duration, whereas femtosecond photon-electron interactions dominate the entire fabrication process. Therefore, femtosecond laser fabrication must be improved by controlling localized transient electron dynamics, which poses a challenge for measuring and controlling at the electron level during fabrication processes. Pump-probe spectroscopy presents a viable solution, which can be used to observe electron dynamics during a chemical reaction. In fact, femtosecond pulse durations are shorter than many physical/chemical characteristic times, which permits manipulating, adjusting, or interfering with electron dynamics. Hence, we proposed to control localized transient electron dynamics by temporally or spatially shaping femtosecond pulses, and further to modify localized transient materials properties, and then to adjust material phase change, and eventually to implement a novel fabrication method. This review covers our progresses over the past decade regarding electrons dynamics control (EDC) by shaping femtosecond laser pulses in micro/nanomanufacturing: (1) Theoretical models were developed to prove EDC feasibility and reveal its mechanisms; (2) on the basis of the theoretical predictions, many experiments are conducted to validate our EDC-based femtosecond laser fabrication method. Seven examples are reported, which proves that the proposed method can significantly improve fabrication precision, quality, throughput and repeatability and effectively control micro/nanoscale structures; (3) a multiscale measurement system was proposed and developed to study the fundamentals of EDC from the femtosecond scale to the nanosecond scale and to the millisecond scale; and (4) As an example of practical applications, our method was employed to fabricate some key structures in one of the 16 Chinese National S&T Major Projects, for which electron dynamics were measured using our multiscale measurement system.

/pdf/electrons-dynamics-control-by-shaping-femtosecond-laser-535kqykqpo.pdf

Electrons dynamics control by shaping femtosecond laser pulses in micro/nanofabrication: modeling, method, measurement and application

Recently, transition metal oxides, such as ruthenium oxide (RuO2), manganese dioxide (MnO2), nickel oxides (NiO) and cobalt oxide (Co3O4), have been widely investigated as electrode materials for pseudo-capacitors. In particular, these metal oxides with mesoporous structures have become very hot nanomaterials in the field of supercapacitors owing to their large specific surface areas and suitable pore size distributions. The high specific capacities of these mesoporous metal oxides are resulted from the effective contacts between electrode materials and electrolytes as well as fast transportation of ions and electrons in the bulk of electrode and at the interface of electrode and electrolyte. During the past decade, many achievements on mesoporous transition metal oxides have been made. In this mini-review, we select several typical nanomaterials, such as RuO2, MnO2, NiO, Co3O4 and nickel cobaltite (NiCo2O4), and briefly summarize the recent research progress of these mesoporous transition metal oxides-based electrodes in the field of supercapacitors.

Mesoporous Transition Metal Oxides for Supercapacitors.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is performed through the collection of spectra by spectral detection equipment at different delay times and distances from targets composed of Cu and nano-Cu, which are ablated using a Nd:YAG laser (532 nm, 10 ns, 10 Hz) in our experiments. The measured wavelength range is from 475 nm to 525 nm. Using the local thermodynamic equilibrium model, we analyze the characteristics of the plasma temperature and the electron number density for different distances between the target surface and the lens. The results show that when compared with the nano-Cu plasma case, the temperature of the Cu plasma is higher, while its electron number density is lower.

Comparison of plasma temperature and electron density on nanosecond laser ablation of Cu and nano-Cu

Emission enhancement ratio of the metal irradiated by femtosecond double-pulse laser

The spatial confinement effect in laser-induced plasma with different distances between the target surface and focal point is investigated by optical emission spectroscopy. A Nd:YAG laser is used to produce plasma from a silicon sample in air atmosphere. When the appropriate distance is selected, the duration of spectral emission enhancement is much longer, and the enhancement effect is much stronger. The phenomenon is attributed to the aspect ratio of the lateral to axial direction of the plasma plume. The plasma plume of a large aspect ratio will interact with the reflected shockwave in a long range of delay time, leading to high particle density. This provided a better understanding about the effect of the distance between the target surface and focal point, leading to better conditions for spatially confined laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

Optimization of distances between the target surface and focal point on spatially confined laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with a cylindrical cavity

Ultrafast thermionic emission from gold film irradiated with a femtosecond laser pulse in the presence of an additional electric field is analyzed using a two-temperature equation combined with a modified Richardson equation. The calculated results show that the duration of the emission is below 1 ps. Supplying an additional electric field is found to change the emission from the metal surface. Given the same laser fluence, this additional field reduces the work function of the metal, and thus improves the efficiency of thermionic emission. These results help to understand the mechanism and suggest ways to improve emissions in the context of ultrafast thermalized electron systems.

Junfeng Shao

Papers

Mesoporous Transition Metal Oxides for Supercapacitors.

Comparison of plasma temperature and electron density on nanosecond laser ablation of Cu and nano-Cu

Emission enhancement ratio of the metal irradiated by femtosecond double-pulse laser

Optimization of distances between the target surface and focal point on spatially confined laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with a cylindrical cavity

Ultrafast thermionic emission from metal irradiated using a femtosecond laser and an electric field in combination