Marigold micro-flower like NiCo2O4 grown on flexible stainless-steel mesh as an electrode for supercapacitors

Applications of carbon quantum dots in electrochemical energy storage devices

Supercapacitors (SCs), including electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), pseudocapacitors, and hybrid capacitors, are esteemed for their high power density and attractive features such as robust safety, fast charging, low maintenance, and prolonged cycling lifespan, sparking significant interest. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are fluorescent nanomaterials with small size, broad excitation spectrum, stable fluorescence, and adjustable emission wavelengths. They are widely used in optoelectronics, medical diagnostics, and energy storage due to their biocompatibility, low toxicity, rich surface functional groups, abundant electron-hole pairs, large specific surface area, and tunable heteroatom doping. In this short review, we briefly discussed the advantages and disadvantages of bottom-up and top-down of CQD synthesis methods. The arc-discharge technique, laser ablation technique, plasma treatment, ultrasound synthesis technique, electrochemical technique, chemical exfoliation, and combustion are among the initial top-down approaches. The subsequent section delineates waste-derived and bottom-up methods, encompassing microwave synthesis, hydrothermal synthesis, thermal pyrolysis, and the metal-organic framework template-assisted technique. In addition, this short review focuses on the operational mechanism of supercapacitors, their properties, and the utilization of CQDs in supercapacitors.

Polypyrrole and activated carbon enriched MnCo2O4 ternary composite as efficient electrode material for hybrid supercapacitors

The development of proficient electrode materials is one of the major tasks faced by modern techniques for energy storage. Integrating different materials with synergistic effects can be a valuable strategy for designing storage devices with high capacity and energy density. The spinel manganese cobaltite (MnCo2O4) is an outstanding candidate for supercapacitors owing to its remarkable pseudocapacitive behavior. However, it suffers from low electric conductivity and limited cyclic stability. To overcome its limitations, activated carbon with superior cyclic stability and polypyrrole with high electric conductivity can be incorporated in MnCo2O4. The synergistic effect of these components offers high capacitance, better conductivity, and superior cyclic performance to the ternary composite. Herein, the MnCo2O4/AC/PPY ternary composite has been synthesized by a facile approach. The optimized ternary composite (MAP-20) exhibited a wonderful capacitance of 945.77 F g-1 at five mV s-1 compared to pristine MnCo2O4 (254.98 F g-1). The real-time applicability of the optimized composite was tested with asymmetric device configuration. The asymmetric device with MAP-20 and MnO2/AC electrodes exhibited a wonderful Ed of 88.12 W h kg-1 (Pd ∼ 1.6 kW kg-1). The asymmetric device also exhibited excellent cyclic performance of 89.68% for 10 000 cycles. Further, the real-time applicability of the device was tested by illuminating a 39 red LED panel. Three asymmetric cells connected in series illuminated the panel for about 45 minutes. All these results suggest that the synergistic integration of various efficient electrode materials leads to enhanced electrochemical performance of supercapacitors.

Trimetallic Oxide Electrocatalyst for Enhanced Redox Activity in Zinc-Air Batteries Evaluated by In Situ Analysis

Researchers are investigating innovative composite materials for renewable energy and energy storage systems. The major goals of this studies are i) to develop a low-cost and stable trimetallic oxide catalyst and ii) to change the electrical environment of the active sites through site-selective Mo substitution. The effect of Mo on NiCoMoO4 is elucidated using both in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Also, density functional theory strategies show that NiCoMoO4 has extraordinary catalytic redox activity because of the high adsorption energy of the Mo atom on the active crystal plane. Further, it is demonstrated that hierarchical nanoflower structures of NiCoMoO4 on reduced graphene oxide can be employed as a powerful bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction/evolution reactions in alkaline solutions, providing a small overpotential difference of 0.75 V. Also, Zn-air batteries based on the developed bifunctional electrocatalyst exhibit outstanding cycling stability and a high-power density of 125.1 mW cm-2 . This work encourages the use of Zn-air batteries in practical applications and provides an interesting concept for designing a bifunctional electrocatalyst.

Two-dimensional transition metal carbide (Ti0.5V0.5)3C2Tx MXene as high performance electrode for flexible supercapacitor

MXenes have gained widespread interest in flexible supercapacitor due to their rich electrochemical activity and free-standing electrode structure. However, it has been a challenge to obtain an electrode with high (mass and volumetric) specific capacitance, high rate and long cycle life simultaneously. Herein, we have prepared a novel few-layer double transition metal carbide (Ti_0.5V_0.5)₃C₂T_x MXene. Multivalent V atoms with high electrochemical activity were constructed in stable M₃C₂-type MXene to obtain the (Ti_0.5V_0.5)₃C₂T_x electrode with excellent performance in flexible supercapacitors. The (Ti_0.5V_0.5)₃C₂T_x film has an excellent specific capacitance of 387F g^-1 (1625 mF cm^-3) at 1.0 A g^-1, and 267 F g^-1 (1121 mF cm^-3) even at a high current density of 20.0 A g^-1, demonstrating superior rate performance (69%). Moreover, the capacitance of the (Ti_0.5V_0.5)₃C₂T_x film remains stable during 100,000 cycles. The symmetric supercapacitor assembled using (Ti_0.5V_0.5)₃C₂T_x film has high energy and power densities, up to 5.6 Wh kg^-1 and 5210.3 W kg^-1. And the all-solid-state (Ti_0.5V_0.5)₃C₂T_x flexible SC maintains stable electrochemical performance after 200 bending cycles. This work shows the huge potential of (Ti_0.5V_0.5)₃C₂T_x in flexible supercapacitor, and provides a new idea for the design of high performance flexible electrodes.

Structure-engineering of core-shell ZnCo2O4@NiO composites for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors

The implementation of a structure-designed strategy to construct hierarchical architectures of multicomponent metal oxide-based electrode materials for energy storage devices is in the limelight. Herein, we report NiO nanoflakes impregnated on ZnCo2O4 nanorod arrays as ZnCo2O4@NiO core-shell structures on a flexible stainless-steel mesh substrate, fabricated by a simple, cost-effective and environmentally friendly reflux condensation method. The core-shell structure of ZnCo2O4@NiO is used as an electrode material in a supercapacitor as it provides a high specific surface area (134.79 m2 g-1) offering high electroactive sites for a redox reaction, reduces the electron and ion diffusion path, and promotes an efficient contact between the electroactive material and electrolyte. The binder-free ZnCo2O4@NiO electrode delivers a high specific capacitance of 882 F g-1 at 4 mA cm-2 current density and exhibits remarkable cycling stability (∼85% initial capacitance retention after 5000 charge-discharge cycles at 10 mA cm-2). The asymmetric supercapacitor device ZnCo2O4@NiO//rGO delivered a maximum energy density of 46.66 W h kg-1 at a power density of 800 W kg-1. The device exhibited 90.20% capacitance retention after 4000 cycles. These results indicate that the ZnCo2O4@NiO architecture electrode is a promising functional material for energy storage devices.