RESUMO
In advancing battery technologies, primary attention is paid to developing and optimizing low-cost electrode materials capable of fast reversible ion insertion and extraction with good cycling ability. Sodium-ion batteries stand out due to their inexpensive price and comparable operating principle to lithium-ion batteries. To achieve this target, various graphene-based nanocomposites fabricate strategies have been proposed to help realize the nanostructured electrode for high electrochemical performance sodium-ion batteries. In this review, the graphene-based nanocomposites were introduced according to the following main categories: graphene surface modification and doping, three-dimensional structured graphene, graphene coated on the surface of active materials, and the intercalation layer stacked graphene. Through one or more of the above strategies, graphene is compounded with active substances to prepare the nanocomposite electrode, which is applied as the anode or cathode to sodium-ion batteries. The recent research progress of graphene-based nanocomposites for SIBs is also summarized in this study based on the above categories, especially for nanocomposite fabricate methods, the structural characteristics of electrodes as well as the influence of graphene on the performance of the SIBs. In addition, the relevant mechanism is also within the scope of this discussion, such as synergistic effect of graphene with active substances, the insertion/deintercalation process of sodium ions in different kinds of nanocomposites, and electrochemical reaction mechanism in the energy storage. At the end of this study, a series of strategies are summarized to address the challenges of graphene-based nanocomposites and several critical research prospects of SIBs that provide insights for future investigations.
RESUMO
In this study, α-MnO2 and Fe2O3 nanomaterials are prepared on a carbon fiber modified with carbon nanotubes to produce the nonbinder core-shell positive (α-MnO2@CNTs/CC) and negative (Fe2O3@CNTs/CC) electrodes that can be operated in a wide voltage window in ultrafast asymmetrical flexible supercapacitors. MnO2 and Fe2O3 have attracted wide research interests as electrode materials in energy storage applications because of the abundant natural resources, high theoretical specific capacities, environmental friendliness, and low cost. The electrochemical performance of each electrode is assessed in 1 M Na2SO4 and the energy storage properties of the supercapacitors consisting of the two composite electrodes are determined in Na2SO4 and EMImBF4 electrolytes in the 2 V and 4 V windows. The 2 V supercapacitor can withstand a large scanning rate of 5000 mV S-1 without obvious changes in the cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves, besides showing a maximum energy density of 57.29 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 833.35 W kg-1. Furthermore, the supercapacitor retains 87.06% of the capacity after 20,000 galvanostatic charging and discharging (GCD) cycles. The 4 V flexible supercapacitor shows a discharging time of 1260 s and specific capacitance of 124.8 F g-1 at a current of 0.5 mA and retains 87.77% of the initial specific capacitance after 5000 GCD cycles. The mechanical robustness and practicality are demonstrated by physical bending and the powering of LED arrays. In addition, the contributions of the active materials to the capacitive properties and the underlying mechanisms are explored and discussed.
RESUMO
Recent research and development of energy storage devices has focused on new electrode materials because of the critical effects on the electrochemical properties of supercapacitors. In particular, MnO2 and Fe2O3 have drawn extensive attention because of their low cost, high theoretical specific capacity, environmental friendliness, and natural abundance. In this study, MnO2 ultrathin nanosheet arrays and Fe2O3 nanoparticles are fabricated on TiN nanowires to produce binder-free core-shell positive and negative electrodes for a flexible and ultra-fast hybrid supercapacitor. The MnO2/TiN/CC electrode shows larger pseudocapacitance contributions than MnO2/CC. For example, at a scanning rate of 2 mV s-1, the pseudocapacitance contribution of MnO2/TiN/CC is 87.81% which is nearly 25% bigger than that of MnO2/CC (71.26%). The supercapacitor can withstand a high scanning rate of 5000 mV s-1 in the 2 V window and exhibits a maximum energy density of 71.19 W h kg-1 at a power density of 499.79 W kg-1. Even at 5999.99 W kg-1, it still shows an energy density of 31.3 W h kg-1 and after 10 000 cycles, the device retains 81.16% of the initial specific capacitance. The activation mechanism is explored and explained.
