Publications [#316732] of Jie Liu
search www.chem.duke.edu.Journal Articles
- Kim, CHJ; Zhao, D; Lee, G; Liu, J, "Strong, Machinable Carbon Aerogels for High Performance Supercapacitors", Advanced Functional MaterialsJuly,, 2016, 26(27), 4976-4983, WILEY [doi].
(last updated on 2024/04/22)Abstract:
Designing macroscopic, 3D porous conductive materials with high mechanical strength is of great importance in many fields, including energy storage, catalysis, etc. This study reports a novel approach to fabricate polyaniline-coated 3D carbon x-aerogels, a special type of aerogels with mechanically strong, highly cross-linked structure that allows the originally brittle aerogels machinable. This approach is accomplished by introducing a small amount of graphene into the sol–gel process of resorcinol and formaldehyde, followed by physical activation and subsequent cross-linking with polyaniline via electropolymerization. The resulting x-aerogels are not only porous and conductive, but also mechanically robust with high compressibility and fast recovery. The strong combination of these properties makes the x-aerogels promising for high performance supercapacitors that are designed to provide additional functionality for wearable and portable electronics. Such multi-functionality leads to a significant increase in electrochemical performance, in particular high volumetric capacitance, which results from the more densely packed electroactive structure in three dimensions. More importantly, monoliths of carbon x-aerogels are machinable into thin slices without losing their properties, thus enabling effective integration into devices with different sizes and shapes.