Graphene-like Material for Electrochemical Energy Storage Applications

摘要

Graphene-like materials have attracted great interest due to the excellent electrochemical properties. In this work, two major graphene-like materials were highlighted, including iron-based polyaniline (PANI) graphene-like material and graphene oxide (GO). Iron-based PANI graphene-like material was synthesized by using the inexpensive heteroatom polymer (polyaniline) as the carbon/nitrogen precursor and the metal-iron as the pore forming agents during the acid leaching process. GO was prepared by applying modified Hummers' method with an electrically insulating property. Three applications based on these two materials were further discussed, which consisted of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) synthesis, 3D-printed all-solid-state supercapacitor, and the fully sealed Li-air battery. The reaction conditions for iron-based PANI graphene-like material and GO were first optimized based on the cyclic voltammetry (CV) to evaluate their capacitance. Afterward, two-steps reduction of GO was proposed by combing four most common reduction methods, including thermal annealing reduction, microwave reduction, hydrazine (N2H4) reduction, and sodium borohydride (NaBH4) reduction to improve the electrochemical properties of rGO. In addition, the 3D-printed all-solid-state supercapacitor used iron-based PANI graphene-like material as the electrode and GO as the electrolyte which showed a good capacitance. Finally, iron-based PANI graphene-like material with a large BET surface area used in the Li-air battery to stable the charge and discharge reactions in the Li-air battery. Overall, this work will provide insights on engineering graphene-like material with optimal properties for electrochemical applications.