Research progress on transition metal oxide based electrode materials for asymmetric hybrid capacitors

In the past few years, the increasing energy consumption of traditional fossil fuels has posed a huge threat to human health. It is very imperious to develop the sustainable and renewable energy storage and conversion devices with low cost and environment friendly features. Hybrid supercapacitors are emerging as one of the promising energy devices with high power density, fast charge-discharge process and excellent cycle stability. However, morphology and structure of the electrode materials exert serious effect on their electrochemical performances. In this review, we summarized recent progresses in transition metal oxide based electrode materials for supercapacitors. Different synthesis routes and electrochemical performances of electrode materials and storage mechanisms of supercapacitor devices have been presented in details. The future developing trends of supercapacitor based on metal oxide electrode materials are also proposed.     

Chemical synthesis of hybrid materials based on PAni and PEDOT with polyoxometalates for electrochemical supercapacitors

Hybrid organic–inorganic materials based on conjugated polymers constitute state-of-the-art compounds with recognized technological implications. In the area of energy conversion, production and storage devices, these materials have been applied as electrodes for batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells or solar cells, among others. Their importance relies on the wide variety of organic and inorganic counterparts that these hybrids can be made of. The properties from each part can be tailored in order to contribute to a final desired characteristic or the combined properties from both. The unique combination of useful properties found in these materials include electronic conductivity (e⁻ or h⁺), ionic transport, reversible electroactivity, electrooptical properties typical of semiconductors as well as electrochromic, pH- and composition-dependent properties, all of them to add to their polymeric nature. This is an excellent basis for the design of hybrid materials in which either of these properties or their combinations work to enhance or combine with those of a myriad inorganic phases with electronic, magnetic, photochemical, electrochemical, optical or catalytic properties. A large variety of functional hybrid materials can thus be designed and fabricated in which multifunctionality can be easily built to address specific technological needs. In this work we present our most recent results on new synthesis methodology developed for the chemical synthesis of the hybrid PAni/PMo12 and their application as electrochemical supercapacitors. We also report the synthesis of a new hybrid material of PEDOT/PMo12 synthesized for the first time by chemical methods and applied also in electrochemical supercapacitors. Initial results shows capacitance values as high as 168 F/g for the hybrid PAni/PMo12 and about 130 F/g for the hybrid PEDOT/PMo12.     

A phosphorus integrated strategy for supercapacitor: 2D black phosphorus–doped and phosphorus-doped materials

In the design and development of energy storage devices, two main factors are considered first high electrochemical performances and second low-cost materials. Phosphorus owns excellent properties such as high carrier mobility, tunable bandgap, anisotropic electronic properties, hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, good electrochemical activity, and high surface area. The interlayer distance of black phosphorus (BP) (0.55 nm) is higher than that of graphene which makes facile ion transportation for supercapacitor application. The phosphorus-based electrode obtained with top-down approaches such as exfoliation and bottom-up approach such as pulsed laser deposition. The BP has been investigated due to its small electronegativity of P which is beneficial to improve the electrical conductivity of the electrode and its abundance nature makes it a desirable candidate for the fabrication of low-cost device. Hence, this review covers the new BP material as the advanced materials for the commercial realization of advanced supercapacitors. This is the first review on phosphorus integrated supercapacitor devices. This review will give a brief idea about BP to researchers in search of outstanding supercapacitor configurations with different electrodes and electrolytes.     

静电纺纳米纤维基超级电容器无粘合剂电极材料的研究进展

对高性能超级电容器不断增长的需求促进了无粘合剂电极材料的快速发展。静电纺纳米纤维由于具有良好的柔性、大比表面积、高孔隙率、容易制备等优点引起了研究者们的强烈关注。本文综述了静电纺纳米纤维基无粘合剂电极材料在超级电容器领域的研究进展,阐述了不同材料的设计制备过程和提升电化学性能的诸多方法,并指明了静电纺纳米纤维基超级电容器无粘合剂电极材料的发展机遇与挑战,为性能优异的无粘合剂超级电容器电极材料的进一步开发与应用拓宽了思路。     

Recent Advances in Porous Carbon Materials for Electrochemical Energy Storage

Climate change and the energy crisis have promoted the rapid development of electrochemical energy‐storage devices. Owing to many intriguing physicochemical properties, such as excellent chemical stability, high electronic conductivity, and a large specific surface area, porous carbon materials have always been considering as a promising candidate for electrochemical energy storage. To date, a wide variety of porous carbon materials based upon molecular design, pore control, and compositional tailoring have been proposed for energy‐storage applications. This focus review summarizes recent advances in the synthesis of various porous carbon materials from the view of energy storage, particularly in the past three years. Their applications in representative electrochemical energy‐storage devices, such as lithium‐ion batteries, supercapacitors, and lithium‐ion hybrid capacitors, are discussed in this review, with a look forward to offer some inspiration and guidelines for the exploitation of advanced carbon‐based energy‐storage materials.     

Electrochemical Pseudocapacitors Based on Ternary Nanocomposite of Conductive Polymer/Graphene/Metal Oxide: An Introduction and Review to it in Recent Studies

This review gives an overview of the synthesis, surface and electrochemical investigations over ternary nanocomposite of conductive polymers in the development of new supercapacitors. They utilize both Faradaic and non‐Faradaic procedures to store charge, leading to higher specific capacitance and energy density, higher cell voltage, longer life cycle and moderated power density. Owing to a unique combination of features such as superb electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance in aqueous electrolytes, highly modifiable nanostructures, long cycle life and the large theoretical specific‐surface area, the use of ternary nanocomposites as a supercapacitor electrode material has become the focus of a significant amount of current scientific researches in the field of energy storage devices. In these nanocomposites, graphene not only can be utilized to provide a substrate for growing nanostructured polymers in a polymer‐carbon nanocomposite structure in order to overcome the insulating nature of conductive polymers at dedoped states, but also is capable of providing a platform for the decoration of metal oxide nanoparticles to avoid their agglomeration. In this regard, synthesis, characterization and performance of different ternary nanocomposites of conductive polymer/graphene/metal oxide are discussed in detail. These remarkable results demonstrate the exciting commercial potential for high performance, environmentally friendly and low‐cost electrical energy storage devices based on ternary nanocomposite of conductive polymer/graphene/metal oxide.     

超级电容器石墨烯-聚苯胺复合材料的研究进展

超级电容器具有功率密度高、充放电速度快、循环寿命长和维护成本低的特点,在电动车动力电池领域具有潜在的应用前景。超级电容器性能主要由其电极材料所决定。聚苯胺易合成、理论比容量高,而且导电性能优异,作为超级电容器电极材料有很高的应用价值。但是,在长期使用过程中,它的体积容易发生膨胀或收缩,循环寿命差。为了解决这个问题,将聚苯胺与石墨烯复合可以扬长避短,充分利用两者之间的协同效应,赋予复合材料优异电化学电容性能。本文综述了超级电容器用石墨烯-聚苯胺复合材料的制备方法,包括原位聚合法、油水界面合成法、电化学合成法、层层自组装法等;提出了三维网状石墨烯和对石墨烯-聚苯胺复合材料进行改性来提高复合材料的电化学电容性能的思路。     

Improving the performance of all-solid-state supercapacitors by modifying ionic liquid gel electrolytes with graphene nanosheets prepared by arc-discharge

Ionic liquid gel polymers have widely been used as the electrolytes in all-solid-state supercapacitors, but they suffer from low ionic conductivity and poor electrochemical performance. Arc discharge is a fast, low-cost and scalable method to prepare multi-layered graphene nanosheets, and as-made graphene nanosheets （denoted as ad-GNSs） with few defects, high electrical conductivity and high thermal stability should be favorable conductive additive materials. Here, a novel ionic liquid gel polymer electrolyte based on an ionic liquid （EM1MNTF2） and an copolymer （P（VDF-HFP）） was modified by the addition of ad-GNSs as an ionic conducting promoter. This modified gel electrolyte shows excellent thermal stability up to 400 ℃ and a wide electrochemical window of 3 V. An all-solid-state supercapacitor based on commercial activated carbon was fabricated using this modified ionic liquid gel polymer electrolyte, which shows obviously improved electrochemical behaviors compared with those of the corresponding all-solid-state supercapacitor using pure ionic liquid gel polymer electrolyte. Specially, smaller internal resistance, higher specific capacitance, better rate performance and cycling stability are achieved. These results indicate that the ionic liquid gel polymers modified by ad-GNSs would be promising and suitable gel electrolytes for high performance all-solid-state electrochemical devices.     

A Highly Elastic and Reversibly Stretchable All‐Polymer Supercapacitor

Multiple stretchability has never been demonstrated as supercapacitors because the hydrogel used cannot fully recover after being heavily deformed. Now, a highly reversibly stretchable all‐polymer supercapacitor was fabricated using a developed double network hydrogel (DN hydrogel) as electrolyte and pure polypyrrole (PPy) as electrode. The DN hydrogel provides excellent mechanical properties, which can be stretched up to 500 % many times and then restore almost 100 % of the original length. To fabricate the fully recoverable stretchable supercapacitor, we annealed a free‐standing pure conducting polymer film as electrode so that the electrodes induced retardance is minimized. The as‐fabricated DN hydrogel/pure conducting polymer supercapacitors can be perfectly recovered from 100 % strain with almost no residual deformation left and the electrochemical performance can be maintained even after 1000 stretches (but not bending).     

Recent Developments in Electrodeposition of Transition Metal Chalcogenides-Based Electrode Materials for Advance Supercapacitor Applications: A Review

High-performance supercapacitive electrode materials have received significant attention from researchers worldwide, thus aiming for comparable performance similar to the extensively used rechargeable batteries. For emerging energy storage technologies like flexible supercapacitors, transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have been in the spotlight due to their promising electrochemical features compared to other electrode materials. Among the synthesis techniques, electrodeposition-mediated preparation of thin films of TMCs offered an affordable binder-free approach for electrode fabrication that effectively improved the supercapacitor performance. Hence, this review mainly focussed on the electrodeposition-based syntheses of single/ multinary chalcogenides and their composites for supercapacitors applications. Further, the effects of different deposition parameters were discussed for boosting the supercapacitor performance. Finally, this review outlined the existing challenges and future perspectives in this research domain, which will assist the upcoming exploration in the energy storage field.     

Recent Advances on Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbons Towards Electrochemical Supercapacitor Applications

Due to ever-increasing global energy demands and dwindling resources, there is a growing need to develop materials that can fulfil the World's pressing energy requirements. Electrochemical energy storage devices have gained significant interest due to their exceptional storage properties, where the electrode material is a crucial determinant of device performance. Hence, it is essential to develop 3-D hierarchical materials at low cost with precisely controlled porosity and composition to achieve high energy storage capabilities. After presenting the brief updates on porous carbons (PCs), then this review will focus on the nitrogen (N) doped porous carbon materials (NPC) for electrochemical supercapacitors as the NPCs play a vital role in supercapacitor applications in the field of energy storage. Therefore, this review highlights recent advances in NPCs, including developments in the synthesis of NPCs that have created new methods for controlling their morphology, composition, and pore structure, which can significantly enhance their electrochemical performance. The investigated N-doped materials a wide range of specific surface areas, ranging from 181.5 to 3709 m² g⁻¹, signifies a substantial increase in the available electrochemically active surface area, which is crucial for efficient energy storage. Moreover, these materials display notable specific capacitance values, ranging from 58.7 to 754.4 F g⁻¹, highlighting their remarkable capability to effectively store electrical energy. The outstanding electrochemical performance of these materials is attributed to the synergy between heteroatoms, particularly N, and the carbon framework in N-doped porous carbons. This synergy brings about several beneficial effects including, enhanced pseudo-capacitance, improved electrical conductivity, and increased electrochemically active surface area. As a result, these materials emerge as promising candidates for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. The challenges and outlook in NPCs for supercapacitor applications are also presented. Overall, this review will provide valuable insights for researchers in electrochemical energy storage and offers a basis for fabricating highly effective and feasible supercapacitor electrodes.     

Recent Progress in Polyaniline and its Composites for Supercapacitors

Polyaniline (PANI) has piqued the interest of nanotechnology researchers due to its potential as an electrode material for supercapacitors. Despite its ease of synthesis and ability to be doped with a wide range of materials, PANI′s poor mechanical properties have limited its use in practical applications. To address this issue, researchers investigated using PANI composites with materials with highly specific surface areas, active sites, porous architectures, and high conductivity. The resulting composite materials have improved energy storage performance, making them promising electrode materials for supercapacitors. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in PANI-based supercapacitors, focusing on using electrochemically active carbon and redox-active materials as composites. We discuss challenges and opportunities of synthesizing PANI-based composites for supercapacitor applications. Furthermore, we provide theoretical insights into the electrical properties of PANI composites and their potential as active electrode materials. The need for this review stems from the growing interest in PANI-based composites to improve supercapacitor performance. By examining recent progress in this field, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-the-art and potential of PANI-based composites for supercapacitor applications. This review adds value by highlighting challenges and opportunities associated with synthesizing and utilizing PANI-based composites, thereby guiding future research directions.     

Hybrid Hydrogels of Porous Graphene and Nickel Hydroxide as Advanced Supercapacitor Materials

Graphene‐based hydrogels can be used as supercapacitor electrodes because of their excellent conductivity, their large surface area and their high compatibility with electrolytes. Nevertheless, the large aspect ratio of graphene sheets limits the kinetics of processes occurring in the electrode of supercapacitors. In this study, we have introduced in‐plane and out‐of‐plane pores into a graphene–nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)₂) hybrid hydrogel, which facilitates charge and ion transport in the electrode. Due to its optimised chemistry and architecture, the hybrid electrode demonstrates excellent electrochemical properties with a combination of high charge storage capacitance, fast rate capability and stable cycling performance. Remarkably, the Ni(OH)₂ in the hybrid contributes a capacitance as high as 3138.5 F g^?1, which is comparable to its theoretical capacitance, suggesting that such structure facilitates effectively charge‐transfer reactions in electrodes. This work provides a facile pathway for tailoring the porosity of graphene‐based materials for improved performances. Moreover, this work has also furthered our understanding in the effect of pore and hydrogel structures on the electrochemical properties of materials.     

An Advanced NiCoFeO/Polyaniline Composite for High‐Performance Supercapacitors

To reduce the charge‐transfer resistance of supercapacitors and achieve faster reversible redox reactions, ternary Ni‐Co‐Fe layered double hydroxide was prepared by using the urea method and then calcined to give NiCoFe oxide (NiCoFeO). To enhance conductivity, a polyaniline (PANI) conductive layer was assembled on the surface of the NiCoFeO particles by in situ oxidative polymerization of aniline monomers. The as‐prepared NiCoFeO/PANI composite was successful employed as a supercapacitor electrode. It was found that the NiCoFeO/PANI composite displayed good cycling stability, with a capacity loss of only 29.54 % after 5000 cycles. Furthermore, the NiCoFeO/PANI composite also exhibited excellent supercapacitor performance, with a high specific capacity of 843 F g^?1 at a current density of 2 A g^?1, whereas NiCoFeO showed a specific capacity of only 478 F g^?1. This result was attributed to the synergistic effect between NiCoFeO and PANI. The facile synthesis strategy and excellent electrochemical performance suggest that NiCoFeO/PANI is a promising economical electrode material for applications in supercapacitors.     

胶体离子超级电容器

超级电容器具有功率密度大、循环寿命长等优点,但同时面临着能量密度低等缺点. 胶体离子超级电容器是最近开发的一种新型赝电容器,同时具有高功率密度和高能量密度的特点. 胶体离子超级电容器能够充分利用多价态金属阳离子的多电子氧化还原反应,完全释放储存的潜在电能,从而提高超级电容器的能量密度. 由于胶体离子的存在,缩短了电子、离子的扩散长度,加快了氧化还原反应动力学,从而保持高的功率密度. 本文主要介绍胶体离子超级电容器的发展过程、最新研究进展以及需要进一步开展的研究工作,作者希望从一个新的角度去研究发展下一代高性能电化学储能设备,实现新的突破.     

Strong and Robust Polyaniline‐Based Supramolecular Hydrogels for Flexible Supercapacitors

We report a supramolecular strategy to prepare conductive hydrogels with outstanding mechanical and electrochemical properties, which are utilized for flexible solid‐state supercapacitors (SCs) with high performance. The supramolecular assembly of polyaniline and polyvinyl alcohol through dynamic boronate bond yields the polyaniline–polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel (PPH), which shows remarkable tensile strength (5.3 MPa) and electrochemical capacitance (928 F g^?1). The flexible solid‐state supercapacitor based on PPH provides a large capacitance (306 mF cm^?2 and 153 F g^?1) and a high energy density of 13.6 Wh kg^?1, superior to other flexible supercapacitors. The robustness of the PPH‐based supercapacitor is demonstrated by the 100 % capacitance retention after 1000 mechanical folding cycles, and the 90 % capacitance retention after 1000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles. The high activity and robustness enable the PPH‐based supercapacitor as a promising power device for flexible electronics.     

Simultaneous Photoreduction and Nitrogen Doping of Graphene Oxide for Supercapacitors by Direct Laser Writing

Graphene-based supercapacitors have attracted tremendous attention owing to their outstanding electrochemical performance. In terms of material, nitrogen(N)-doped graphene(NDG) displays enhanced specific capaci-tance and rate performance compared with bare graphene used as a supercapacitor electrode. However, it still remains a challenge to develop a facile and simple method of NDG in cost-effective manner. Here, we used a simple direct laser writing technique to accomplish the simultaneous photoreduction and N-doping of graphene oxide(GO) using urea as a N source. The N content of the resultant reduced N-doped graphene oxide(NGO) reached a maximum value of 6.37%. All reduced NGO(NRGO)-based supercapacitors exhibited a higher specific capacitance than those based on pure reduced GO(RGO). Interestingly, the electrochemical performance of NRGO-based supercapacitors varied with different contents ofN species. Therefore, we can control the properties of the obtained NRGOs by adjusting the doping ratios, an important step in developing effective graphene-based energy storage devices.     

An Intrinsically Stretchable and Compressible Supercapacitor Containing a Polyacrylamide Hydrogel Electrolyte

Stretchability and compressibility of supercapacitors is an essential element of modern electronics, such as flexible, wearable devices. Widely used polyvinyl alcohol‐based electrolytes are neither very stretchable nor compressible, which fundamentally limits the realization of supercapacitors with high stretchability and compressibility. A new electrolyte that is intrinsically super‐stretchable and compressible is presented. Vinyl hybrid silica nanoparticle cross‐linkers were introduced into polyacrylamide hydrogel backbones to promote dynamic cross‐linking of the polymer networks. These cross‐linkers serve as stress buffers to dissipate energy when strain is applied, providing a solution to the intrinsically low stretchability and compressibility shortcomings of conventional supercapacitors. The newly developed supercapacitor and electrolyte can be stretched up to an unprecedented 1000 % strain with enhanced performance, and compressed to 50 % strain with good retention of the initial performance.     

用于超级电容器的锰钴氧化物/碳纤维材料

The development of high-performance supercapacitor electrode materials is imperative to alleviate the ongoing energy crisis. Numerous transition metals (oxides) have been studied as electrode materials for supercapacitors owing to their low cost, environmental-friendliness, and excellent electrochemical performance. Among the developed binary transition metal oxides, manganese cobalt oxides typically show high theoretical capacitance and stable electrochemical performance, and are widely used in the electrode materials of supercapacitors. However, the poor conductivity and active material utilization of manganese cobalt oxide-based electrode materials limit their potential capacitance application. Cotton is mainly composed of organic carbon-containing materials, which can be transformed to carbon fibers after calcination. The resultant carbonaceous material exhibits a large specific surface area and good conductivity. Such advantages could potentially suppress the negative effects caused by the poor conductivity and small specific surface area of manganese cobalt oxides, thereby improving the electrochemical performance. Herein, we firstly deposited manganese cobalt oxides on cotton by a simple hydrothermal method, yielding a composite of manganese cobalt oxides and carbon fibers via subsequent calcination, to improve the electrochemical performance of the electrode material. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and electrochemical characterizations were used to investigate the physical, chemical, and electrochemical properties of the prepared samples. The fabricated manganese cobalt oxides in the composite were uniformly dispersed on the carbon fiber surface, which increased the contact between the interface of the electrode material and electrolyte, and enhanced electrode material utilization. The electrode material was confirmed to have well contacted with the electrolyte during a contact angle test. Hence, a pseudo-capacitance reaction completely occurred on the manganese cobalt oxide material. Moreover, the addition of carbon fibers reduced the resistance of the material, resulting in excellent capacitive performance. The capacitance of the prepared composite was 854 F∙g^-1 at a current density of 2 A∙g^-1. The capacitance was maintained at 72.3% after 2000 cycles at a current density of 2 A∙g^-1. These results indicate that the manganese cobalt oxide and carbon fiber composite is a promising electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors. The findings presented herein provide a strategy for coupling with carbon materials to enhance the performance of supercapacitor electrode materials based on manganese cobalt oxides. Thus, novel insights into the design of high-performance supercapacitors for energy management are provided.     

二氧化锰与二维材料复合应用于超级电容器

现如今世界正面临着与能源相关的一系列问题与挑战,科学家们致力于研究绿色高性能的能量存储器件以适应当前乃至以后长久可持续创新发展的需要。超级电容器作为一种新型的绿色能源储存装置,具有功率密度大、理论比电容高、充放电速度快、循环寿命长、安全性高、环境友好且经济等优点,为人类解决能源危机提出了可能。电极材料是影响超级电容器性能的重要因素。近些年,由于二氧化锰基超级电容器具有理论比电容高、化学稳定性好、环境友好等特点被广泛研究。同时多种二维材料也继石墨烯后被相继用作超级电容器电极材料,具有二维结构特征材料在提高双电层电容器的能量密度、改善赝电容电容器方面发挥着重要作用。实现高比电容和高倍率性能,将二氧化锰与二维材料复合将不失为一个有前景的选择。本文系统介绍了以石墨烯为代表的各类二维材料与二氧化锰复合物在超级电容器中的应用研究,并聚焦于这些二维材料与二氧化锰复合后所展现的优异电化学性能。