Yufeng Zhao

High-performance asymmetric supercapacitors based on multilayer MnO2 graphene oxide nanoflakes and hierarchical porous carbon with enhanced cycling stability

In this work, MnO(2)/GO (graphene oxide) composites with novel multilayer nanoflake structure, and a carbon material derived from Artemia cyst shell with genetic 3D hierarchical porous structure (HPC), are prepared. An asymmetric supercapacitor has been fabricated using MnO(2)/GO as positive electrode and HPC as negative electrode material. Because of their unique structures, both MnO(2)/GO composites and HPC exhibit excellent electrochemical performances. The optimized asymmetric supercapacitor could be cycled reversibly in the high voltage range of 0-2 V in aqueous electrolyte, which exhibits maximum energy density of 46.7 Wh kg(-1) at a power density of 100 W kg(-1) and remains 18.9 Wh kg(-1) at 2000 W kg(-1). Additionally, such device also shows superior long cycle life along with ∼100% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles and ∼93% after 4000 cycles.

Ultrahigh volumetric capacitance and cyclic stability of fluorine and nitrogen co-doped carbon microspheres

Highly porous nanostructures with large surface areas are typically employed for electrical double-layer capacitors to improve gravimetric energy storage capacity; however, high surface area carbon-based electrodes result in poor volumetric capacitance because of the low packing density of porous materials. Here, we demonstrate ultrahigh volumetric capacitance of 521 F cm−3 in aqueous electrolytes for non-porous carbon microsphere electrodes co-doped with fluorine and nitrogen synthesized by low-temperature solvothermal route, rivaling expensive RuO2 or MnO2 pseudo-capacitors. The new electrodes also exhibit excellent cyclic stability without capacitance loss after 10,000 cycles in both acidic and basic electrolytes at a high charge current of 5 A g−1. This work provides a new approach for designing high-performance electrodes with exceptional volumetric capacitance with high mass loadings and charge rates for long-lived electrochemical energy storage systems.

Nickel Cobalt Hydroxide @Reduced Graphene Oxide Hybrid Nanolayers for High Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitors with Remarkable Cycling Stability

Nanolayered structures present significantly enhanced electrochemical performance by facilitating the surface-dependent electrochemical reaction processes for supercapacitors, which, however, causes capacitance fade upon cycling due to their poor chemical stability. In this work, we report a simple and effective approach to develop a stable, high performance electrode material by integrating 2D transition metal hydroxide and reduced graphene oxide sheets at nanometer scale. Specifically, a hybrid nanolayer of Ni-Co hydroxide @reduced graphene oxide (Ni,Co-OH/rGO) with an average thickness of 1.37 nm is synthesized through an easy one-pot hydrothermal method. Benefiting from the face to face contact model between Ni-Co hydroxide and rGO sheets, such unique structure presents superior specific capacitance and cycling performance as compared to the pure Ni-Co hydroxide nanolayers. An asymmetric supercapacitor based on Ni,Co-OH/rGO and three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous carbon is developed, exhibiting a high energy density of 56.1 Wh kg(-1) along with remarkable cycling stability (80% retention after 17 000 cycles), which holds great promise for practical applications in energy storage devices.

Oxygen-rich hierarchical porous carbon derived from artemia cyst shells with superior electrochemical performance.

In this study, three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous carbon with abundant functional groups is produced through a very simple low-cost carbonization of Artemia cyst shells. The unique hierarchical porous structure of this material, combining large numbers of micropores and macropores, as well as reasonable amount of mesopores, is proven favorable to capacitive behavior. The abundant oxygen functional groups from the natural carbon precursor contribute stable pseudocapacitance. As-prepared sample exhibits high specific capacitance (369 F g(-1) in 1 M H2SO4 and 349 F g(-1) in 6 M KOH), excellent cycling stability with capacitance retention of 100% over 10 000 cycles, and promising rate performance. This work not only describes a simple way to produce high-performance carbon electrode materials for practical application, but also inspires an idea for future structure design of porous carbon.

All-solid-state high performance asymmetric supercapacitors based on novel MnS nanocrystal and activated carbon materials.

All-solid-state high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) are fabricated using γ-MnS as positive electrode and porous eggplant derived activated carbon (EDAC) as negative electrode with saturated potassium hydroxide agar gel as the solid electrolyte. The laminar wurtzite nanostructure of γ-MnS facilitates the insertion of hydroxyl ions into the interlayer space, and the manganese sulfide nanowire offers electronic transportation channels. The size-uniform porous nanostructure of EDAC provides a continuous electron pathway as well as facilitates short ionic transportation pathways. Due to these special nanostructures of both the MnS and the EDAC, they exhibited a specific capacitance of 573.9 and 396 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, respectively. The optimized MnS//EDAC asymmetric supercapacitor shows a superior performance with specific capacitance of 110.4 F g−1 and 89.87% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles, a high energy density of 37.6 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 181.2 W kg−1 and remains 24.9 Wh kg−1 even at 5976 W kg−1. Impressively, such two assembled all-solid-state cells in series can light up a red LED indicator for 15 minutes after fully charged. These impressive results make these pollution-free materials promising for practical applications in solid aqueous electrolyte-based ASCs.

Monolayer Nickel Cobalt Hydroxyl Carbonate for High Performance All-Solid-State Asymmetric Supercapacitors

The emergence of atomically thick nanolayer materials, which feature a short ion diffusion channel and provide more exposed atoms in the electrochemical reactions, offers a promising occasion to optimize the performance of supercapacitors on the atomic level. In this work, a novel monolayer Ni-Co hydroxyl carbonate with an average thickness of 1.07 nm is synthesized via an ordinary one-pot hydrothermal route for the first time. This unique monolayer structure can efficiently rise up the exposed electroactive sites and facilitate the surface dependent electrochemical reaction processes, and thus results in outstanding specific capacitance of 2266 F g(-1). Based on this material, an all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor is developed adopting alkaline PVA (poly(vinyl alcohol)) gel (PVA/KOH) as electrolyte, which performs remarkable cycling stability (no capacitance fade after 19 000 cycles) together with promising energy density of 50 Wh kg(-1) (202 μWh cm(-2)) and high power density of 8.69 kW kg(-1) (35.1 mW cm(-2)). This as-assembled all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (AASC) holds great potential in the field of portable energy storage devices.

High-Efficiency AgInS2-Modified ZnO Nanotube Array Photoelectrodes for All-Solid-State Hybrid Solar Cells

Highly ordered AgInS2-modified ZnO nanoarrays were fabricated via a low-cost hydrothermal chemical method, and their application as all-solid-state solar cells was also tested. A sensitizer and a buffer layer were developed around the surface of ZnO nanotubes in the preparation process, and this method is easily be manipulated to produce uniform structure. In this structure, the ZnO served as direct electron transport path, the ZnS as the buffer layer, and the ternary sensitizer AgInS2 as absorber and outer shell. The novel all-solid-state hybrid solar cells (ITO/ZnO/ZnS/AgInS2/P3HT/Pt) showed improved short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 7.5 mA/cm(2), open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 512 mV, giving rise to a power conversion efficiency of 2.11%, which is the relatively highest value ever reported for ZnO-based all-solid-state hybrid solar cells. This better result is attributed to the improved absorption spectrum, high speed of photoinduced charge transmission velocity, and appropriate gradient energy gap structure, which implies a promising application in all-solid-state solar cells.

Top-Down Strategy to Synthesize Mesoporous Dual Carbon Armored MnO Nanoparticles for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

To overcome inferior rate capability and cycle stability of MnO-based materials as a lithium-ion battery anode associated with the pulverization and gradual aggregation during the conversion process, we constructed robust mesoporous N-doped carbon (N-C) protected MnO nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) (MnO@N-C/rGO) by a simple top-down incorporation strategy. Such dual carbon protection endows MnO@N-C/rGO with excellent structural stability and enhanced charge transfer kinetics. At 100 mA g-1, it exhibits superior rate capability as high as 864.7 mAh g-1, undergoing the deep charge/discharge for 70 cycles and outstanding cyclic stability (after 1300 cyclic tests at 2000 mA g-1; 425.0 mAh g-1 remains, accompanying merely 0.004% capacity decay per cycle). This facile method provides a novel strategy for synthesis of porous electrodes by making use of highly insulating materials.

A novel synthesis of carbon nanotubes directly from an indecomposable solid carbon source for electrochemical applications

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are synthesized through a novel low cost self-vaporized chemical vapor deposition (SCVD) technique from an indecomposable solid carbon source for the first time. This method was manipulated to avoid the injection of flammable gasses, by producing gaseous carbon (e.g. CO) through an in situ catalyzed gasification of the intermediate product induced by KOH. Simultaneously, the as-produced gaseous carbons will deposit onto the pre-imbedded Ni nanocatalyst surface and form CNTs. The growth mechanism is discussed in detail by adjusting the KOH amount. The as-prepared CNTs are rich in oxygen and deficiencies, which endow them with abundant active sites for electrochemical applications. Superior supercapacitor performance is achieved with a specific capacitance 6 times higher than that of commercial CNTs. This technique represents a novel, convenient approach toward large scale production of CNTs directly from a solid carbon precursor, and would show promising applications in various industrial fields.

Hybridized Phosphate with Ultrathin Nanoslices and Single Crystal Microplatelets for High Performance Supercapacitors

A novel hybridized phosphate is developed through a mild hydrothermal method to construct high performance asymmetric supercapacitor. Single layered (Ni,Co)3(PO4)2·8H2O nanoslices (∼1 nm) and single crystal (NH4)(Ni,Co)PO4·0.67H2O microplatelets are obtained through a template sacrificial method and dissolution recrystallization approach respectively in one step. This unique hybridized structure delivers a maximum specific capacitance of 1128 F g−1 at current density of 0.5 A g−1. The asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) based on the hybrid exhibits a high energy density of 35.3 Wh kg−1 at low power density, and still holds 30.9 Wh kg−1 at 4400 W kg−1. Significantly, the ASC manifests very high cycling stability with 95.6% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles. Such excellent electrochemical performance could be attributed to the synergistic effect of the surface redox reaction from the ultrathin nanoslices and ion intercalation from the single crystal bulk structure. This material represents a novel kind of electrode material for the potential application in supercapacitors.