An Overview of Stretchable Supercapacitors Based on Carbon Nanotube and Graphene

Stretchable Energy Storage Devices Based on Carbon Materials

Stretchable energy storage devices are essential for developing stretchable electronics and have thus attracted extensive attention in a variety of fields including wearable devices and bioelectronics. Carbon materials, e.g., carbon nanotube and graphene, are widely investigated as electrode materials for energy storage devices due to their large specific surface areas and combined remarkable electrical and electrochemical properties. They can also be effectively composited with many other functional materials or designed into different microstructures for fabricating stretchable energy storage devices. This review summarizes recent advances toward the development of carbon-material-based stretchable energy storage devices. An overview of common carbon materials' fundamental properties and general strategies to enable the stretchability of carbon-material-based electrodes are presented. The performances of the as-fabricated stretchable energy storage devices including supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, metal-air batteries, and other batteries are then carefully discussed. Challenges and perspectives in this emerging field are finally highlighted for future studies.

Combination of Self-Healing Butyl Rubber and Natural Rubber Composites for Improving the Stability

The self-healing composites were prepared from the combination of bromobutyl rubber (BIIR) and natural rubber (NR) blends filled with carbon nanotubes (CNT) and carbon black (CB). To reach the optimized self-healing propagation, the BIIR was modified with ionic liquid (IL) and butylimidazole (IM), and blended with NR using the ratios of 70:30 and 80:20 BIIR:NR. Physical and chemical modifications were confirmed from the mixing torque and attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). It was found that the BIIR/NR-CNT_CB with IL and IM effectively improved the cure properties with enhanced tensile properties relative to pure BIIR/NR blends. For the healed composites, BIIR/NR-CNT_CB-IM exhibited superior mechanical and electrical properties due to the existing ionic linkages in rubber matrix. For the abrasion resistances, puncture stress and electrical recyclability were examined to know the possibility of inner liner applications and Taber abrasion with dynamic mechanical properties were elucidated for tire tread applications. Based on the obtained T_g and Tan δ values, the composites are proposed for tire applications in the future with a simplified preparation procedure.

Current State of Porous Carbon for Wastewater Treatment

Porous materials constitute an attractive research field due to their high specific surfaces; high chemical stabilities; abundant pores; special electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties; and their often higher reactivities. These materials are currently generating a great deal of enthusiasm, and they have been used in large and diverse applications, such as those relating to sensors and biosensors, catalysis and biocatalysis, separation and purification techniques, acoustic and electrical insulation, transport gas or charged species, drug delivery, and electrochemistry. Porous carbons are an important class of porous materials that have grown rapidly in recent years. They have the advantages of a tunable pore structure, good physical and chemical stability, a variable specific surface, and the possibility of easy functionalization. This gives them new properties and allows them to improve their performance for a given application. This review paper intends to understand how porous carbons involve the removal of pollutants from water, e.g., heavy metal ions, dyes, and organic or inorganic molecules. First, a general overview description of the different precursors and the manufacturing methods of porous carbons is illustrated. The second part is devoted to reporting some applications such using porous carbon materials as an adsorbent. It appears that the use of porous materials at different scales for these applications is very promising for wastewater treatment industries.