Tengfei Zhang

Porous 3D graphene-based bulk materials with exceptional high surface area and excellent conductivity for supercapacitors

Until now, few sp2 carbon materials simultaneously exhibit superior performance for specific surface area (SSA) and electrical conductivity at bulk state. Thus, it is extremely important to make such materials at bulk scale with those two outstanding properties combined together. Here, we present a simple and green but very efficient approach using two standard and simple industry steps to make such three-dimensional graphene-based porous materials at the bulk scale, with ultrahigh SSA (3523 m2/g) and excellent bulk conductivity. We conclude that these materials consist of mainly defected/wrinkled single layer graphene sheets in the dimensional size of a few nanometers, with at least some covalent bond between each other. The outstanding properties of these materials are demonstrated by their superior supercapacitor performance in ionic liquid with specific capacitance and energy density of 231 F/g and 98 Wh/kg, respectively, so far the best reported capacitance performance for all bulk carbon materials.

Broadband and Tunable High‐Performance Microwave Absorption of an Ultralight and Highly Compressible Graphene Foam

The broadband and tunable high-performance microwave absorption properties of an ultralight and highly compressible graphene foam (GF) are investigated. Simply via physical compression, the microwave absorption performance can be tuned. The qualified bandwidth coverage of 93.8% (60.5 GHz/64.5 GHz) is achieved for the GF under 90% compressive strain (1.0 mm thickness). This mainly because of the 3D conductive network.

A high-performance supercapacitor-battery hybrid energy storage device based on graphene-enhanced electrode materials with ultrahigh energy density

In pursuing higher energy density with no sacrifice of power density, a supercapacitor-battery hybrid energy storage device—combining an electrochemical double layer capacitance (EDLC) type positive electrode with a Li-ion battery type negative electrode—has been designed and fabricated. Graphene is introduced to both electrodes: an Fe3O4/graphene (Fe3O4/G) nanocomposite with high specific capacity as negative electrode material, and a graphene-based three-dimensional porous carbon material (3DGraphene) with high surface area (∼3355 m2 g−1) as positive electrode material. The Fe3O4/G nanocomposite shows a high reversible specific capacity exceeding 1000 mA h g−1 at 90 mA g−1 and remaining at 704 mA h g−1 at 2700 mA g−1, as well as excellent rate capability and improved cycle stability. Meanwhile the 3DGraphene positive electrode also displays great electrochemical performance. With these two graphene-enhanced electrode materials and using the best recommended industry evaluation method, the hybrid supercapacitor Fe3O4/G//3DGraphene demonstrates an ultrahigh energy density of 147 W h kg−1 (power density of 150 W kg−1), which also remains of 86 W h kg−1 even at high power density of 2587 W kg−1, so far the highest value of the reported hybrid supercapacitors. Furthermore, the energy density of the hybrid supercapacitor is comparable to lithium ion batteries, and the power density also reaches that of symmetric supercapacitors, indicating that the hybrid supercapacitor could be a very promising novel energy storage system for fast and efficient energy storage in the future.

Controlling the Effective Surface Area and Pore Size Distribution of sp2 Carbon Materials and Their Impact on the Capacitance Performance of These Materials

A series of sp(2) carbon materials with different specific surface area (SSA) and controlled pore size distribution (PSD) were synthesized at large scale through a facile and low-cost method. The SSA and PSD of these carbon materials were controlled by using different carbon sources and preparation methods. With different total and effective SSA (E-SSA) and PSD, the impacts on their capacitance performance were investigated thoroughly, which demonstrated that both E-SSA and PSD played the most important roles in their capacitance performance. Furthermore, theoretical modeling was performed, and the results are in agreement with the experimental results for the influence of E-SSA and PSD on their capacitance performance. Based on these, a general model using the slit/cylindrical NL-DFT approach is proposed for the estimation of the specific capacitance of sp(2) carbon materials, which offers a simple but reliable method to predict the capacitance performance of these materials, thus speeding up the design and screening of the materials for high-performance supercapacitor and other surface area related devices.

Graphene-based Li-ion hybrid supercapacitors with ultrahigh performance

There is a growing demand for hybrid supercapacitor systems to overcome the energy density limitation of existing-generation electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), leading to next generation-II supercapacitors with minimum sacrifice in power density and cycle life. Here, an advanced graphene-based hybrid system, consisting of a graphene-inserted Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) composite anode (G-LTO) and a three-dimensional porous graphene-sucrose cathode, has been fabricated for the purpose of combining both the benefits of Li-ion batteries (energy source) and supercapacitors (power source). Graphene-based materials play a vital role in both electrodes in respect of the high performance of the hybrid supercapacitor. For example, compared with the theoretical capacity of 175 mA·h·g−1 for pure LTO, the G-LTO nanocomposite delivered excellent reversible capacities of 207, 190, and 176 mA·h·g−1 at rates of 0.3, 0.5, and 1 C, respectively, in the potential range 1.0–2.5 V vs. Li/Li+; these are among the highest values for LTO-based nanocomposites at the same rates and potential range. Based on this, an optimized hybrid supercapacitor was fabricated following the standard industry procedure; this displayed an ultrahigh energy density of 95 Wh·kg−1 at a rate of 0.4 C (2.5 h) over a wide voltage range (0–3 V), and still retained an energy density of 32 Wh·kg−1 at a high rate of up to 100 C, equivalent to a full discharge in 36 s, which is exceptionally fast for hybrid supercapacitors. The excellent performance of this Li-ion hybrid supercapacitor indicates that graphene-based materials may indeed play a significant role in next-generation supercapacitors with excellent electrochemical performance.

A Flexible and High‐Voltage Internal Tandem Supercapacitor Based on Graphene‐Based Porous Materials with Ultrahigh Energy Density

Pursuing higher working voltage and packaged energy density, an internal tandem supercapacitor has been successfully designed and fabricated based on graphene-based porous carbon hybrid material. Compared with the packaged energy density of 27.2 Wh kgcell (-1) and working voltage of 3.5 V using EMIMBF4 electrolyte for the conventional single-cell supercapacitor, the internal tandem device with the same material achieves a much higher working voltage of 7 V as well as a significantly improved energy density of 36.3 Wh kgcell (-1) (increased by 33%), which is also about 7 times of that of the state-of-art commercial supercapacitors. A flexible internal tandem device is also designed and fabricated and demonstrated similar excellent performance.

Highly Reversible and Recyclable Absorption under Both Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Conditions using a Reduced Bulk Graphene Oxide Material.

A 3D crosslinked reduced bulk graphene oxide material with switchable absorption capability between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity is achieved by a simple O3 and annealing treatment.

Graphene-Based Standalone Solar Energy Converter for Water Desalination and Purification

Harvesting solar energy for desalination and sewage treatment has been considered as a promising solution to produce clean water. However, state-of-the-art technologies often require optical concentrators and complicated systems with multiple components, leading to poor efficiency and high cost. Here, we demonstrate an extremely simple and standalone solar energy converter consisting of only an as-prepared 3D cross-linked honeycomb graphene foam material without any other supporting components. This simple all-in-one material can act as an ideal solar thermal converter capable of capturing and converting sunlight into heat, which in turn can distill water from various water sources into steam and produce purified water under ambient conditions and low solar flux with very high efficiency. High specific water production rate of 2.6 kg h-1 m-2 g-1 was achieved with near ∼87% under 1 sun intensity and >80% efficiency even under ambient sunlight (<1 sun). This scalable sheet-like material was used to obtain pure drinkable water from both seawater and sewage water under ambient conditions. Our results demonstrate a competent monolithic material platform providing a paradigm change in water purification by using a simple, point of use, reusable, and low-cost solar thermal water purification system for a variety of environmental conditions.

Construction of a Fish‐like Robot Based on High Performance Graphene/PVDF Bimorph Actuation Materials

Smart actuators have many potential applications in various areas, so the development of novel actuation materials, with facile fabricating methods and excellent performances, are still urgent needs. In this work, a novel electromechanical bimorph actuator constituted by a graphene layer and a PVDF layer, is fabricated through a simple yet versatile solution approach. The bimorph actuator can deflect toward the graphene side under electrical stimulus, due to the differences in coefficient of thermal expansion between the two layers and the converse piezoelectric effect and electrostrictive property of the PVDF layer. Under low voltage stimulus, the actuator (length: 20 mm, width: 3 mm) can generate large actuation motion with a maximum deflection of about 14.0 mm within 0.262 s and produce high actuation stress (more than 312.7 MPa/g). The bimorph actuator also can display reversible swing behavior with long cycle life under high frequencies. on this basis, a fish‐like robot that can swim at the speed of 5.02 mm/s is designed and demonstrated. The designed graphene‐PVDF bimorph actuator exhibits the overall novel performance compared with many other electromechanical avtuators, and may contribute to the practical actuation applications of graphene‐based materials at a macro scale.

High activity of hot electrons from bulk 3D graphene materials for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

Design and synthesis of efficient photocatalysts for hydrogen production via water splitting are of great importance from both theoretical and practical viewpoints. Many metal-based semiconductors have been explored for this purpose in recent decades. Here, for the first time, an entirely carbon-based material, bulk three-dimensionally cross-linked graphene (3DG), has been developed as a photocatalyst for hydrogen production. It exhibits a remarkable hydrogen production rate of 270 μmol·h−1·gcat−1 under full-spectrum light via a hot/free electron emission mechanism. Furthermore, when combined with the widely used semiconductor TiO2 to form a TiO2/3DG composite, it appears to become a more efficient hydrogen production photocatalyst. The composite achieves a production rate of 1,205 μmol·h−1·gcat−1 under ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) light and a 7.2% apparent quantum efficiency at 350 nm due to the strong synergetic effects between TiO2 and 3DG.