Timothy Fisher

Abstract:

Ultra-thin 2D materials have emerged as promising candidates for a variety of applications ranging from information to energy technologies. Often, such materials and structures offer superior scalability to 1D and 0D materials, and for energy applications, such scalability is a strong pre-requisite for making a significant impact on this grand-challenge problem. For example, graphene offers straightforward processing routes and useful properties for a variety of energy-related devices such as solar cells, supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries. This presentation will discuss the major synthesis techniques that have been employed to obtain single-, bi- and few-layer graphene, as well as vertical 'petal' versions and the subsequent scale-up of the plasma synthesis process to a roll-to-roll nanomanufacturing platform. We also consider prospects for the use of biorenewable feedstocks that transform into graphene in the plasma synthesis process. Subsequent coating of the graphene with electrochemically active material can produce extremely high levels of energy storage via electrical charge in form factors that are highly durable and flexible. The remainder of the talk will consider such coatings, such as metal oxides derived preferably from abundant and recyclable elements, and the assembly of these materials into electrical storage devices including symmetric and asymmetric supercapacitors with battery-like pseudocapacitive behavior. For these, a broad range of functional performance metrics exist and will be discussed in the context of the state of the art.