Thin-Film Supercapacitor Electrodes Based on Nanomaterials Processed By Ultrasound Irradiation
Authors: Coelho João , O'Brien Sean , Seral-Ascaso Andrés , Park Sang-Hoon , Nicolosi Valeria 
Published: February 2020

Materials at nanoscale usually present enhanced or even new and exotic properties in comparison with their bulk counterparts. Therefore, nanoparticles have been widely regarded as potential candidates for new technological developments. In the specific case of energy storage applications, such as supercapacitors and batteries, nanomaterials offer high surface areas and shorter transport paths for both electrons and ions.1 Thus considerably improving these devices performance. Therefore, for the last couple of years, several techniques for nanomaterials synthesis have been proposed, such as mechanical exfoliation. However, most of them are only suited for laboratory scale applications due to their low production yield. In fact, the development of suitable productions methods is a key to fully exploit the advantageous properties of nanomaterials before their use in large scale industrial applications. In this context, the processing of nanomaterials by ultrasound irradiation has been regarded as one of the most feasible options for the production of highly stable nanomaterials dispersions. Besides being highly scalable, this approach is simple, cost-effective and environment friendly. Several nanomaterials, such as graphene,2  carbon nanotubes3 and transition metal dichalcogenides4 have already been successfully obtained by ultrasound processing.

In this work, it is presented an overview of the electrochemical properties of thin film supercapacitor/battery electrodes based on nanomaterials prepared by ultrasound irradiation. A variety of systems, from the most common materials, such as manganese oxide and lithium titanate, to more exotic ones, such as V2O5 and GaSe, have been carefully processed, characterized and tested for energy storage applications. It is also exhibited the concept of co-exfoliation, where the properties of two different materials (MnO2 and graphene) are combined in order to obtain a highly efficient composite in a cost-effective and scalable one-step approach.

This work intends to demonstrate the remarkable potential of nanomaterials/composites processed by ultrasound irradiation for the future design and manufacture of energy storage devices with an enhanced electrochemical performance.

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