High energy density supercapacitors using macroporous kitchen sponges
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research CenterFunctional Nanomaterials and Devices Research Group
Material Science and Engineering Program
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2012Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/562001
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Macroporous, low-cost and recyclable kitchen sponges are explored as effective electrode platforms for supercapacitor devices. A simple and scalable process has been developed to fabricate MnO 2-carbon nanotube (CNT)-sponge supercapacitor electrodes using ordinary kitchen sponges. Two organic electrolytes (1 M of tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (Et 4NBF 4) in propylene carbonate (PC), 1 M of LiClO 4 in PC) are utilized with the sponge-based electrodes to improve the energy density of the symmetrical supercapacitors. Compared to aqueous electrolyte (1 M of Na 2SO 4 in H 2O), the energy density of supercapacitors tripled in Et 4NBF 4 electrolyte, and further increased by six times in LiClO 4 electrolyte. The long-term cycling performance in different electrolytes was examined and the morphology changes of the electrode materials were also studied. The good electrochemical performance in both aqueous and organic electrolytes indicates that the MnO 2-CNT-sponge is a promising low-cost electrode for energy storage systems. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry.Citation
Chen, W., Rakhi, R. B., & Alshareef, H. N. (2012). High energy density supercapacitors using macroporous kitchen sponges. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 22(29), 14394. doi:10.1039/c2jm32030dSponsors
The authors wish to thank the Imaging and Characterization Core Facility and the Analytical Chemistry Core Laboratory for their support. W. C. acknowledges support from the KAUST Graduate Fellowship. H. A. acknowledges the support from KAUST baseline fund.Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)Journal
Journal of Materials Chemistryae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1039/c2jm32030d