(546c) Overcoming Intrinsic Energy Density Deficiencies in Supercapacitors By Embedded Electrode Doping

Developing new materials to enhance the energy storage capabilities of supercapacitors is pertinent to the advancement of the energy industry. Supercapacitors have been successfully developed to increase the energy density of capacitors by adding Faradaic components to the electrodes, either by the inclusion of conducting polymers or metal oxides. Faradaic energy storage is superior in energy density to charge separation based energy storage, although by incorporating both mechanisms, supercapacitors can store energy that can be released at high powers with improved energy densities. Cycle life for surface-bonded Faradaic components is a prominent hurdle, where the energy density advantages are only sustainable for ~50 – 100 cycles. Therefore in this work we incorporate our Faradaic components within the electrodes, trapping them sterically within. This permits the augmented energy density to persist for 1000 cycles and due to the porosity of the electrodes the specific capacitance is still > 300 F/g in multi-walled carbon nanotube based electrodes. These electrodes have additional benefits in enhanced heterogeneous catalysis, which has been utilized to increase the power density of redox flow batteries as well. Further development of the energy density of supercapacitors in important for future energy storage markets as the world enters a new phase of energy.