About this Research Topic
Over the past few years, the demand for sustainable energy from reliable renewable resources has risen as the increasing energy crisis calls for storage and supply of energy in a stable, efficient as well as cost-effective way. To address these challenges, two-dimensional (2D) carbon nanostructured materials such as graphene and MXene have been explored as excellent candidates for a variety of energy applications such as supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and fuel cells. Features such as high mobility of the charge carriers, electrical conductivity, large surface area, and high power density make these materials excellent choices for energy storage applications. For instance, graphene and MXene, both having high porous surface area, can be used as support materials for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors after doping with different elements (V, Mo, W, Ni). The isolation of 2D graphene from the layered material graphite by using a simple and unusual method of repeated mechanical peeling has been of great interest in the scientific world. Graphene, as well as other 2D materials such as MXene, have also been successfully isolated by a wet chemical etching method.
Electronic properties of these nanostructured materials can be tuned by using different nanostructures like nanorods, nanowires, nanospheres, quantum dots of V, Mo, W salts. In this approach, the development of different 2D carbon nanostructures with earth-abundant and a cost-effective transition metal, metal oxides, sulfides, and their hybrids can be carried out. Such materials have a greater potential to be used as electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors.
Similarly, flexible supercapacitors retaining high electrochemical performances combined with sufficient mechanical endurance have been of great interest due to the continued innovations in energy storage devices. Graphene and MXene based nanocomposite electrodes have displayed astonishing mechanical durability and long-term stability hence, making them convenient for fabricating flexible energy storage devices with the low form factor.
This Research Topic focuses on the development of carbon-based 2D materials for applications in energy storage. Areas of interest include but are not limited to:
• Novel fabrications of new 2D materials
• Experimental and computational studies of 2D carbon materials in energy storage applications such as batteries, supercapacitors, etc.
• Optimization of the properties of 2D carbon-based materials for energy storage applications.
Keywords: Graphene, MXene, Supercapacitors, Batteries, 2D Carbon Materials
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