Flexible energy storage devices based on nanocomposite paper

There is strong recent interest in ultrathin, flexible, safe energy storage devices to meet the various design and power needs of modern gadgets. To build such fully flexible and robust electrochemical devices, multiple components with specific electrochemical and interfacial properties need to be integrated into single units. Here we show that these basic components, the electrode, separator, and electrolyte, can all be integrated into single contiguous nanocomposite units that can serve as building blocks for a variety of thin mechanically flexible energy storage devices. Nanoporous cellulose paper embedded with aligned carbon nanotube electrode and electrolyte constitutes the basic unit. The units are used to build various flexible supercapacitor, battery, hybrid, and dual-storage battery-in-supercapacitor devices. The thin freestanding nanocomposite paper devices offer complete mechanical flexibility during operation. The supercapacitors operate with electrolytes including aqueous solvents, room temperature ionic liquids, and bioelectrolytes and over record temperature ranges. These easy-to-assemble integrated nanocomposite energy-storage systems could provide unprecedented design ingenuity for a variety of devices operating over a wide range of temperature and environmental conditions.

[1]  R. Rosenfeld.  Nature , 2009, Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

[2]  E. Frąckowiak.  Carbon materials for supercapacitor application. , 2007, Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP.

[3]  Y. Chiang,et al.  Virus-Enabled Synthesis and Assembly of Nanowires for Lithium Ion Battery Electrodes , 2006, Science.

[4]  Yasushi Murakami,et al.  Fabrication of Thin-Film, Flexible, and Transparent Electrodes Composed of Ruthenic Acid Nanosheets by Electrophoretic Deposition and Application to Electrochemical Capacitors , 2006 .

[5]  Ki Bang Lee,et al.  Urine-activated paper batteries for biosystems , 2005 .

[6]  P. Bruce,et al.  Nanostructured materials for advanced energy conversion and storage devices , 2005, Nature materials.

[7]  Ki Chul Park,et al.  High Energy-Density Capacitor Based on Ammonium Salt Type Ionic Liquids and Their Mixing Effect by Propylene Carbonate , 2005 .

[8]  Anthony F. Hollenkamp,et al.  High Lithium Metal Cycling Efficiency in a Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid , 2004 .

[9]  John R. Owen,et al.  A High-Performance Supercapacitor/Battery Hybrid Incorporating Templated Mesoporous Electrodes , 2003 .

[10]  R. Duchi,et al.  Pregnancy: A cloned horse born to its dam twin , 2003, Nature.

[11]  Brian E. Conway,et al.  Double-layer and pseudocapacitance types of electrochemical capacitors and their applications to the development of hybrid devices , 2003 .

[12]  Robin D. Rogers,et al.  Dissolution of Cellose with Ionic Liquids , 2002 .

[13]  M. Dresselhaus,et al.  Alternative energy technologies , 2001, Nature.

[14]  M. Armand,et al.  Issues and challenges facing rechargeable lithium batteries , 2001, Nature.

[15]  Tao Zheng,et al.  An Asymmetric Hybrid Nonaqueous Energy Storage Cell , 2001 .

[16]  M. Dresselhaus,et al.  Vapor-grown carbon fibers (VGCFs): Basic properties and their battery applications , 2001 .

[17]  A. Burke.  Ultracapacitors: why, how, and where is the technology , 2000 .

[18]  K. Méténier,et al.  Supercapacitor electrodes from multiwalled carbon nanotubes , 2000 .

[19]  X. B. Zhang,et al.  Structure and Lithium Insertion Properties of Carbon Nanotubes , 1999 .

[20]  B. Conway.  Electrochemical Supercapacitors: Scientific Fundamentals and Technological Applications , 1999 .

[21]  S. Bonnamy,et al.  Electrochemical storage of lithium in multiwalled carbon nanotubes , 1999 .

[22]  C. R. Martin,et al.  Carbon nanotubule membranes for electrochemical energy storage and production , 1998, Nature.

[23]  R. Hoch,et al.  High power electrochemical capacitors based on carbon nanotube electrodes , 1997 .

[24]  C. R. Johnson,et al.  Limiting factors for carbon-based chemical double-layer capacitors , 1994 .

[25]  K. Sato,et al.  The physiology, pharmacology, and biochemistry of the eccrine sweat gland. , 1977, Reviews of physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology.