Nanomanufacturing of Activated Carbon Nanosphere-Based Supercapacitors from Industrial Biomass Waste

对高容量、高能量、高功率密度的储能器件的需求十分迫切。为了减少二氧化碳、甲烷和一氧化二氮等温室气体的排放，开发以电力为基础的交通运输和生物工程需要这些储能装置。主要基于碳材料的电化学超级电容器比锂离子电池具有更快的充电速度和更长的寿命，并可以提供清洁和高效的电力。通过增加活性物质与电解液的接触，可以显著提高超级电容器的能量密度。该项目涉及多个学科的研究，包括纳米制造、储能、电化学、建模和模拟。它将促进制造具有显著改善的电-化学-机械性能的一类能源材料的加工技术的进步，帮助增长工程劳动力，并增强美国在能源和交通领域的竞争力和领导地位。研究结果还将使人们更好地了解电化学循环对材料微观力学行为的影响。制造高性能储能设备的能力有望对汽车、便携式电子、光子学和生物工程等各种应用产生重大影响。本研究将以工业生物质废弃物(如波旁酒糟)为原料合成活性碳纳米球(ACNS)和碳纳米球基复合材料，并研究电化学循环对ACNS的微观结构、表面形态和化学组成等性能的影响。将开发电化学压痕系统，以原位表征ACNS在电化学循环过程中的力学行为。通过对ACNS在电化学循环作用下的力学响应进行数值模拟，研究动能流动和离子扩散对电化学双电层电容器结构耐久性的耦合影响，以帮助设计出更高能量容量和更长耐久性的ACN基超级电容器。

There is a strong need for energy storage devices with high capacitance, high energy and high power density. These energy storage devices are required in the development of electric-based transportation and bioengineering for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Electrochemical supercapacitors, which are mostly based on carbon materials, can have much faster charging rates and longer life-times than lithium-ion batteries and can deliver clean and efficient power. The energy density of electrochemical supercapacitors can be increased significantly via the increase in the contact of active materials with electrolyte. This project involve researches in several disciplines, including nanomanufacturing, energy storage, electrochemistry, modeling and simulation. It will lead to the advancement of the processing technology for the fabrication of a class of energy materials with significantly improved electrical-chemical-mechanical properties, help grow the engineering workforce, and enhance U.S. competitiveness and leadership in the areas of energy and transportation. The research results will also provide a better understanding of the effects of electrochemical cycling on the mechanical behavior of materials on the microscale.The ability to produce high performance energy storage devices promises to have a significant impact on various applications, including automobiles, portable electronics, photonics, and bioengineering. This research will synthesize activated carbon nanospheres (ACNs) and carbon nanosphere-based composites from industrial biomass waste derivatives (e.g. bourbon stillage) for applications in electrochemical double layer capacitors, and investigate the effect of electrochemical cycling on the characteristics of the ACNs, including microstructure, surface morphology, and chemical composition. Electrochemical indentation system will be developed for in situ characterization of the mechanical behavior of the ACNs during electrochemical cycling. Numerical modeling of the mechanical response of the ACNs under the action of electrochemical cycling will be developed to investigate the coupling effect between electrokinetic flow and the diffusion of ions on the structural durability of electrochemical double layer capacitors to help design better ACN-based supercapacitors with higher energy capacity and longer durability.