Stanford scientists have created a new carbon material that “significantly” boosts the performance of batteries and supercapacitors, according to a new study published in ACS Central Science.
Zhenan Bao, senior author of the study and a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford, said they have developed a so-called “designer carbon” that is both versatile and controllable. The material has notable energy-storage capacity, which enables high performance in lithium-sulfur batteries and supercapacitors.
The researchers claim the new designer carbon represents a major improvement over conventional activated carbon, an inexpensive material widely used in products ranging from water filters and air deodorizers to energy-storage devices.
Bao and her team developed a new way to synthesize high-quality carbon using inexpensive and uncontaminated chemicals and polymers. The carbon sheets form a 3D network that has good pore connectivity and high electronic conductivity, the researchers say.
The researchers found that electrical conductivity in the designer carbon improved threefold compared to supercapacitor electrodes made of conventional activated carbon. It also improved the rate of power delivery and the stability of the electrodes.
Interestingly, the electrodes made with designer carbon are capable of capturing, lithium polysulfide, the byproduct of lithium and sulfur, which can leak and cause batteries to fail.
The best part? The designer carbon is simple to make, relatively cheap and meets all of the critical requirements for high-performance electrodes. This innovation could transform the way batteries and supercapacitors are made.
In other recent battery news, Tesla Energy in May unveiled a new suite of batteries for homes, businesses and utilities that can store solar energy and allow customers to cache grid electricity from non-peak periods to use during peak times. Other companies are looking for ways to give a second life to exhausted consumer batteries. A start-up called BatteryVampiretaps into the remaining energy in seemingly empty alkaline batteries and makes it available to the device until all that usable energy is depleted.