Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published June 17, 2013 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Use of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes for Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitors

Abstract

The demand for, and consumption of, global energy is continually increasing across a world whose population will grow to nearly 9 billion people in the next couple of years. It is poised to continue its steady increase in the next several decades. The climate change and the decreasing availability of fossil fuels have hastened the development of satisfying sustainable and renewable energy technologies. Since electrical energy storage systems such as batteries and capacitors are considered as the most critical link between the ever-increasing renewable energy supply and demand, a lot of work has been done to improve their efficiency and performance. Further, the advancement of micro/ nano-electro-mechanical devices for telecommunication and biomedical applications initiates the demand for reliable lightweight electrical energy storage systems with small form factors. To fulfill all these requirements, the development of new materials with an exceptional specific surface area and excellent electrochemical properties has become the focus of much research effort. Electrical energy can be stored either chemically, for example, batteries, or physically, for example, capacitors. Chemically, the electrical energy is converted into chemical energy via Faradaic reduction and oxidation (redox) reactions. Although the energy conversion from electrical to chemical and vice versa is thermodynamically reversible in principle, in practice, such conversion often involves some degree of irreversibility due to the electrode−electrolyte interphase changes during the charging and discharging processes [1]. Therefore, the charge/discharge rates of batteries are very low and their lifecycle is limited to only several thousand cycles. However, depending on the types of batteries, they can have a very high gravimetric energy density of up to 200 Wh/kg [2].

Additional Information

© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This work was supported by The Office of Naval Research under Grant number N00014-11-1-0031 and The Fletcher-Jones Foundation under Grant number 9900600. The authors gratefully acknowledge support and infrastructure provided for this work by the Charyk Laboratory for Bioinspired Design, the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI), and the Molecular Materials Research Center (MMRC) at the California Institute of Technology.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
March 5, 2024