Engineering of Two-Dimensional Materials for Clean Energy Conversion and Storage Applications

日益增长的能源需求和全球气候危机要求设计下一代清洁能源技术。解决全球对经济脱碳和发展使用先进材料的清洁和可持续能源转换和储存技术日益增长的关切至关重要。由于现有技术的需求和挑战，许多类型的清洁能源存储和转换技术正在开发中。最新的需求应用，如可穿戴电子产品和电动汽车，需要具有卓越多功能功能的先进材料，以实现高性能，耐用性和轻量化设计，以实现稳健和灵活的能量存储和转换。这些系统商业化的主要挑战与复合材料以及电解质和电极的设计有关。为了改善电极的性能、容量、提高安全性和延长使用寿命，需要认真努力设计多用途材料和新型固态电解质。在电化学能量转换和存储系统（如燃料电池、电池和超级电容器）中，电解质的常规材料是聚合物膜、水性电解质或有机液体电解质。含水电解质的蒸发和腐蚀作用以及有机电解质的高体积和易燃性导致电解质和电极随着时间的推移而降解。因此，用具有优越性能、合理安全性和长期耐用性的先进材料取代这些电解质和电极来克服这些障碍至关重要。在这个研究项目中，Kaur实验室将设计、制造和研究一种名为MXenes的新型二维材料，它由过渡金属碳化物和/或氮化物组成。广泛的MXenes将使用自顶向下或自底向上的合成方法创建，这些合成方法显示出令人着迷的特性，包括高电子导电性，优异的容量，柔韧性，机械强度和电化学稳定性。这些特性可能使MXenes成为固态复合材料的理想候选材料，用于离子导电电解质膜和柔性电极，用于与加拿大和全球绿色能源市场相关的能源系统和技术。控制电解质和电极性能的组成因素将在电化学能量转换和存储系统中进行评估，并指导可持续能源研究领域中未来材料的设计。拟议的研究和培训计划所提供的长期利益将加强加拿大在清洁能源领域的领导地位，创造新的工业就业机会，培养训练有素的专家，减少对化石燃料的依赖。

Increasing energy demands and the global climate crisis require designing next-generation clean energy technologies. It is critical to address the growing global concerns about the decarbonization of the economy and the development of clean and sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies using advanced materials. Many types of clean energy storage and conversion technologies are being developed due to demand and challenges in existing technologies. The latest in-demand applications, such as wearable electronics and electric vehicles, require advanced materials with superior multifunctional capabilities to enable high performance, durability, and lightweight designs for robust and flexible energy storage and conversion. The major challenges in commercializing these systems are associated with the composite materials and designs of electrolytes and electrodes. Serious efforts are needed to engineer multipurpose materials and design novel solid-state electrolytes to improve the electrodes' performance, capacity, enhance safety and lengthen lifetimes. Conventional materials for electrolytes in electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems such as fuel cells, batteries, and supercapacitors are polymeric membranes, aqueous electrolytes, or organic liquid electrolytes. The evaporation and corrosive effects of aqueous electrolytes and the high volume and flammability of organic electrolytes lead to the degradation of electrolytes and electrodes over time. Therefore, it is vital to replace these electrolytes and electrodes with advanced materials having superior performance, reasonable safety, and long-term durability to overcome these barriers. The Kaur lab will design, engineer, and investigate a new family of 2D materials known as MXenes, composed of transition metal carbides and/or nitrides in this research program. A broad range of MXenes will be created using top-down or bottom-up synthesis which display fascinating properties varying from high electronic conductivity, excellent capacity, flexibility, mechanical strength, and electrochemical stability. These properties potentially make MXenes ideal candidates for solid-state composites for applications in ion-conductive electrolyte membranes and flexible electrodes for in-demand energy systems and technologies of relevance to Canadian and global green energy markets. The compositional factors that govern the electrolyte and electrode properties will be evaluated in electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems and guide the design of future materials within the sustainable energy research area. The long-term benefits offered by the proposed research and training program will be strengthening the position of Canada as a leader in clean energy, new industry jobs, highly-trained experts, and reduced fossil fuel dependence.