Novel Flexible Materials for Sustainable Energy Storage

用于可持续能源存储的新型柔性材料

• 批准号: 2717002
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2717002
• 关键词: Novel; Flexible; Materials; Sustainable; Energy

The continued growth in world energy demand coupled with the increasingly pressing need to address climate change is rapidly driving a transition to renewable and sustainable energy sources. Renewable energy generation can often be intermittent and does not always align well with fluctuations in demand (for example, solar electricity generation can only occur during daylight, whereas peak energy demand may be in the evening) and there is a need for portable energy storage in applications as diverse as vehicles and personal electronics. Existing battery technologies have a limited lifetime, are difficult to recycle, and are produced from raw materials often mined unsustainably and with issues over the geopolitical location. Hence, there is a profound need for developing electrical energy storage with a long cycle life produced from sustainable materials by environmentally acceptable processes. The focus of this research project is to develop a highly performance-promising class of energy storage devices, known as supercapacitors for 'green' energy storage. Successful development of such devices can have a major impact on the rapid adoption of renewable energy and sustainable transport, ameliorating anthropogenic global climate change.Like batteries, supercapacitors are devices that store energy electrochemically. However, unlike the former, electrical charge is stored at the surface of the materials making up the electrodes within the device, rather than in the bulk. This has the twin advantages of allowing rapid charging/discharging and substantially reducing the rate at which their storage capacity degrades. However, they have a significant disadvantage in the amount of electrical energy which can be stored. Moreover, neither traditional battery nor supercapacitor materials have mechanical properties which enable them to be readily incorporated into durable wearable and flexible devices.To address these issues this project aims to develop novel materials and structures, particularly electrodes, which will enable the production of flexible supercapacitors with improved charge storage capacity produced from Earth-abundant and sustainably obtained materials through processes with limited environmental impact.Free-standing flexible composite electrodes will be created using a 'backbone' of carbon cloth onto which will be grown novel 'pseudocapacitive' materials. These materials will be chosen on the basis of an evaluation of their likelihood to combine high charge storage capacity (due to similarities with battery chemistry) with high cycle life and power output. Wet chemical techniques and hydrothermal growth will initially be to fabricate such electrodes and routes to sustainable production will be developed. Thorough characterization of their physical structure and chemical composition will be undertaken to understand appropriate structure-function relationships and optimize both materials and processing. The resulting electrodes will be assembled into flexible energy storage devices which will be evaluated for their electrochemical performance.

世界能源需求的持续增长，加上应对气候变化的日益迫切需要，正在迅速推动向可再生能源和可持续能源的过渡。可再生能源发电往往是间歇性的，并不总是与需求的波动很好地一致（例如，太阳能发电只能在白天发生，而能源需求的高峰可能在晚上），在各种各样的应用中，如车辆和个人电子产品，都需要便携式能源储存。现有的电池技术寿命有限，难以回收利用，而且生产的原材料通常是不可持续开采的，而且存在地缘政治位置问题。因此，迫切需要通过环境可接受的工艺，开发由可持续材料生产的具有长循环寿命的电能存储。这个研究项目的重点是开发一种高性能的能量存储设备，被称为“绿色”能量存储的超级电容器。此类设备的成功开发可以对可再生能源的快速采用和可持续交通产生重大影响，改善人为的全球气候变化。和电池一样，超级电容器也是一种电化学储存能量的装置。然而，与前者不同的是，电荷存储在设备内构成电极的材料表面，而不是存储在整体中。这具有双重优点，即允许快速充电/放电，并大大降低其存储容量退化的速度。然而，它们在可以存储的电能数量上有一个明显的缺点。此外，传统的电池和超级电容器材料都没有机械性能，不能轻易地集成到耐用、可穿戴和灵活的设备中。为了解决这些问题，该项目旨在开发新型材料和结构，特别是电极，这将使柔性超级电容器的生产具有改进的电荷存储容量，这些电容器由地球上丰富的可持续获得的材料通过对环境影响有限的工艺生产。独立的柔性复合电极将使用碳布的“骨干”，在其上生长新型的“假电容”材料。这些材料的选择将基于对其结合高电荷存储容量（由于与电池化学成分的相似性）与高循环寿命和功率输出的可能性的评估。湿化学技术和水热生长将首先用于制造这种电极，并将开发可持续生产的路线。将对其物理结构和化学成分进行彻底的表征，以了解适当的结构-功能关系，并优化材料和加工。所得到的电极将被组装成柔性储能装置，并对其电化学性能进行评估。