Recent progress in carbon-based materials for supercapacitor electrodes: a review

• Published in: Journal of materials science 2021-01, Vol.56 (1), p.173-200, Article 173
• Main Authors: Wang, Yifan, Zhang, Lin, Hou, Haoqing, Xu, Wenhui, Duan, Gaigai, He, Shuijian, Liu, Kunming, Jiang, Shaohua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Batteries; Capacitors; Carbon; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Energy consumption; Energy storage; Materials Science; Nuclear energy; Polymer Sciences; Production processes; Review; Solid Mechanics; Supercapacitors
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-020-05157-6

Increased energy consumption stimulates the development of various energy types. As a result, the storage of these different types of energy becomes a key issue. Supercapacitors, as one important energy storage device, have gained much attention and owned a wide range of applications by taking advantages of micro-size, lightweight, high power density and long cycle life. From this perspective, numerous studies, especially on electrode materials, have been reported and great progress in the advancement in both the fundamental and applied fields of supercapacitor has been achieved. Herein, a review of recent progress in carbon materials for supercapacitor electrodes is presented. First, the two mechanisms of supercapacitors are briefly introduced. Then, research on carbon-based material electrodes for supercapacitor in recent years is summarized, including different dimensional carbon-based materials and biomass-derived carbon materials. The characteristics and fabrication methods of these materials and their performance as capacitor electrodes are discussed. On the basis of these materials, many supercapacitor devices have been developed. Therefore, in the third part, the supercapacitor devices based on these carbon materials are summarized. A brief overview of two types of conventional supercapacitor according to the charge storage mechanism is compiled, including their development process, the merits or withdraws, and the principle of expanding the potential range. Additionally, another fast-developed capacitor, hybrid ion capacitors as a good compromise between battery and supercapacitor are also discussed. Finally, the future aspects and challenges on the carbon-based materials as supercapacitor electrodes are proposed.