Seyed Hamed Aboutalebi

High-Performance Multifunctional Graphene Yarns: Toward Wearable All-Carbon Energy Storage Textiles

The successful commercialization of smart wearable garments is hindered by the lack of fully integrated carbon-based energy storage devices into smart wearables. Since electrodes are the active components that determine the performance of energy storage systems, it is important to rationally design and engineer hierarchical architectures atboth the nano- and macroscale that can enjoy all of the necessary requirements for a perfect electrode. Here we demonstrate a large-scale flexible fabrication of highly porous high-performance multifunctional graphene oxide (GO) and rGO fibers and yarns by taking advantage of the intrinsic soft self-assembly behavior of ultralarge graphene oxide liquid crystalline dispersions. The produced yarns, which are the only practical form of these architectures for real-life device applications, were found to be mechanically robust (Youngs modulus in excess of 29 GPa) and exhibited high native electrical conductivity (2508 ± 632 S m(-1)) and exceptionally high specific surface area (2605 m(2) g(-1) before reduction and 2210 m(2) g(-1) after reduction). Furthermore, the highly porous nature of these architectures enabled us to translate the superior electrochemical properties of individual graphene sheets into practical everyday use devices with complex geometrical architectures. The as-prepared final architectures exhibited an open network structure with a continuous ion transport network, resulting in unrivaled charge storage capacity (409 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1)) and rate capability (56 F g(-1) at 100 A g(-1)) while maintaining their strong flexible nature.

A highly ordered titania nanotube array as a supercapacitor electrode

We report the synthesis of self-organized titania nanotubes and nanocrystalline titania powders employing an alternative and novel approach. Integrating these nanostructures in a binder-free working electrode improved the capacitance up to 911 μF cm(-2), which is around one to two orders of magnitude higher than the conventional electric double layer capacitors.

Organic solvent-based graphene oxide liquid crystals: A facile route toward the next generation of self-assembled layer-by-layer multifunctional 3D architectures

We introduce soft self-assembly of ultralarge liquid crystalline (LC) graphene oxide (GO) sheets in a wide range of organic solvents overcoming the practical limitations imposed on LC GO processing in water. This expands the number of known solvents which can support amphiphilic self-assembly to ethanol, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, N-dimethylformamide, N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone, and a number of other organic solvents, many of which were not known to afford solvophobic self-assembly prior to this report. The LC behavior of the as-prepared GO sheets in organic solvents has enabled us to disperse and organize substantial amounts of aggregate-free single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs, up to 10 wt %) without compromise in LC properties. The as-prepared LC GO-SWNT dispersions were employed to achieve self-assembled layer-by-layer multifunctional 3D hybrid architectures comprising SWNTs and GO with unrivalled superior mechanical properties (Youngs modulus in excess of 50 GPa and tensile strength of more than 500 MPa).

Enhancement of the electrochemical capacitance of TiO2 nanotube arrays through controlled phase transformation of anatase to rutile

Here, we report the fabrication of self-organized titania (TiO(2)) nanotube array supercapacitor electrodes through controlled phase transformation of TiO(2), with aerial capacitances as high as 2.6 mF cm(-2), which far exceeds the values so far reported in the literature. The role of phase transformation in the electrochemical charge-discharge behaviour of nanocrystalline TiO(2) nanotubes is investigated and discussed in detail. The ease of synthesis and the exceptional electrochemical properties make these nanotube arrays an alternative candidate for use in energy storage devices.

Graphene oxide dispersions: tuning rheology to enable fabrication

Here, we show that graphene oxide (GO) dispersions exhibit unique viscoelastic properties, making them a new class of soft materials. The fundamental insights accrued here provide the basis for the development of fabrication protocols for these two-dimensional soft materials, in a diverse array of processing techniques.

Globular reduced graphene oxide-metal oxide structures for energy storage applications

In this work, we employed an in situspray pyrolysis approach to fabricate metal oxide-graphene composites with highly porous morphologies. The materials exhibited unique globular structures comprising metal oxide nanoparticles embedded between graphene sheets with high capacitance.

Formation and processability of liquid crystalline dispersions of graphene oxide

Rational control over the formation and processability, and consequently final properties of graphene oxide liquid crystalline dispersions has been a long-standing goal in the development of bottom-up device fabrication processes. Here we report, the principal conditions through which such levels of control can be exercised to fine-tune dispersion properties for further processing.

Liquid Crystalline Graphene Oxide/PEDOT:PSS Self-Assembled 3D Architecture for Binder-Free Supercapacitor Electrodes

Binder-free self-assembled 3D architecture electrodes have been fabricated by a novel convienient method. Liquid crystalline graphene oxide (LC GO) was used as precursor to interact with poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) in dispersion in order to form a conductive polymer entrapped, self-assembled layer-by-layer structure. This advanced network containing PEDOT:PSS enabled us to ascribe the superior electrochemical properties of particular graphene sheets. This layer-by-layer self-assembled 3D architecture of best performing composite (rGO-PEDOT:PSS 25) showed excellent electrochemical performance of 434 F g-1 through chemical treatment. To highlight these advances, we further explored the practicality of the as-prepared electrode by varying the composite material content. An asymmetric supercapacitor device using aqueous electrolyte was also studied of this same composite. The resulting performance from this set up included a specific capacitance of 132 F g-1. Above all, we observed an increase in specific capacitance (19%) with increase in cycle life emphasizing the excellent stability of this device.

Self-Assembled Multifunctional Hybrids: Toward Developing High-Performance Graphene-Based Architectures for Energy Storage Devices.

The prospect of developing multifunctional flexible three-dimensional (3D) architectures based on integrative chemistry for lightweight, foldable, yet robust, electronic components that can turn the many promises of graphene-based devices into reality is an exciting direction that has yet to be explored. Herein, inspired by nature, we demonstrate that through a simple, yet novel solvophobic self-assembly processing approach, nacre-mimicking, layer-by-layer grown, hybrid composite materials (consisting of graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, and conducting polymers) can be made that can incorporate many of the exciting attributes of graphene into real world materials. The as-produced, self-assembled 3D multifunctional architectures were found to be flexible, yet mechanically robust and tough (Young’s modulus in excess of 26.1 GPa, tensile strength of around 252 MPa, and toughness of 7.3 MJ m–3), and exhibited high native electrical conductivity (38700 S m–1) and unrivalled volumetric capacitance values (761 F cm–3) with excellent cyclability and rate performance.

In situ engineering of urchin-like reduced graphene oxide–Mn2O3–Mn3O4 nanostructures for supercapacitors

We report the use of a spray pyrolysis method to synthesize high surface area (BET surface area of 139 m2 g−1) self-organized, micron sized urchin-like composites made up of reduced graphene oxide and needle-shaped manganese oxide (rGO–Mn2O3–Mn3O4). Maximum capacitances of 425 Fg−1 at 5 mV s−1 from a three electrode set up and 133 Fg−1 at a current density of 0.2 Ag−1 were recorded using an asymmetric two electrode set up with graphene as the anode. The composite material also showed a capacitance retention of 83% over 1000 cycles. We attribute this remarkable performance to the high specific surface area due to the urchin-like hollow structures and synergy between the manganese oxide and reduced graphene oxide materials within the composite. Furthermore, this synthesis technique can be exploited further in the bulk synthesis of cost effective graphene–metal oxide hybrid materials for energy storage applications.