Graphene, the super-material that’s stronger than steel, lighter than air, and highly conductive, is poised to impact industry at a scale that hasn’t been seen since the Industrial Revolution. Since its inception in modern form (one atom thickness—Konstantin Novoselov/Andre Geim, circa 2004), the material has taken on a seemingly unlimited application potential in many areas, including electronics, biological engineering, composite materials/coatings, membranes/filters, and perhaps most notably, energy applications.
When it comes to energy applications, scientists and engineers have utilized the material for everything from energy conversion to storage, including capacities and charge rates in new lithium-ion batteries. Graphene is also being applied to photovoltaic cells for highly efficient solar devices, as well as supercapacitors that are more powerful and efficient than what’s currently available.
Of course, the wonder material is being adapted to Li-ion batteries to increase densities and performance, let alone improve catalysis for fuel cells to boost rates of reaction. In this roundup, we’ll look at four graphene-driven advances that made waves in the energy industry over the last few years.
1. Graphene Oxide Nanosheets
(图片来源:UIC)
伊利诺伊大学（UIC）的伊利诺伊大学的研究人员开发了一种解决方案，可以将锂金属电池推向市场：石墨烯可用于延长电池寿命并防止它们引起火灾。Normal lithium-metal based batteries can hold up to 10X more charge over their Li-ion counterparts, but haven’t been utilized for mobile devices or EVs due to their relatively short life and tendency to catch fire because lithium tends to be deposited unevenly on the electrodes.
The researchers have overcome those issues by developing what they term “graphene-oxide nanosheets.” These are actually used as separators placed between the two electrodes to prevent the lithium from being deposited unevenly, and allow the battery to charge/discharge for hundreds of cycles before needing to be replaced.
2.超级电容器的生物启发的纳米结构
(图片来源:内华达大学)
Mechanical engineers from the University of Nevada came up with受树枝启发的新电极设计这可能会导致新的超级电容器能够储存更多的能量和持续时间比当今的市场更长。在最近的一个纸entitled “Bioinspired leaves-on-branchlet hybrid carbon nanostructure for supercapacitors,” the engineers describe how their design increases the surface area of the electrode by growing graphene petals on tunnel-shaped carbon nanotube arrays.
This branching structure provides an increased surface area for the electrode to absorb energy-storing ions, and can store and produce the same amount of power as more substantial and heavier electrodes. The engineers state their next project will be to develop a manufacturing process to ramp up production of their bio-inspired structure for commercial applications.
3. White-Graphene Nanomaterials for Efficient Hydrogen Storage
(图片来源:莱斯大学)
While hydrogen is one of the cleanest ways to generate electricity (produces water as its only byproduct), it has some drawbacks in terms of portability, storage, and safety. It also requires specially designed storage tanks to mitigate those issues. However, Rice University engineers created一种存储氢的方法这克服了这些问题，并在需要时迅速（并安全）按需释放它。
工程师的解决方案是设计一种利用“存储架构”white-graphene”纳米材料，更名为六角硼硝化硼。在他们的溶液中，氮化硼的蜂窝状晶状结构彼此堆叠，并由硼柱支撑，这种结构与石墨烯有关原子间距类似。
在吸收氢时，已知硝酸硼优于石墨烯 - 它通过物理键将氢保持，从而使纳米材料在储存时高度稳定。它还使在需要时更容易排放该氢。实际上，白色地毯设计达到或超过了美国储能部的轻型燃料电池车辆，可以在不久的将来的某个时候在电动汽车中找到。
4.柔性石墨烯太阳能电池
(图片来源:MIT)
太阳能电池是可以从石墨烯中受益匪浅的一个区域。来自麻省理工学院的研究人员使用了材料来开发柔性，透明的细胞可以安装在无数的表面上，包括玻璃，塑料甚至胶带。该团队使用沉积在有机的透明底物上的石墨烯电极开发了太阳能电池，并喷洒了一层薄薄的乙烯 - 乙酸乙酯（EVA）将它们粘在一起。新的太阳能电池在整个可见光光谱中表现出61％的光传递，功率转换效率在2.8％至4.1％之间。
这四个类别的能源中心基于石墨烯的大多数进展，并且在过去的14年中一直在开发。这些材料使工程师和研究人员能够超越普通金属，以实现这些显着的突破，似乎每隔几个月左右就会宣布更多的发展。
The lingering question is when these breakthroughs will become readily available on the market or available for commercial and industrial use. One of the more mitigating factors has to do with graphene production, as it’s challenging to produce in large quantities efficiently and cheaply. While small-scale manufacturing of the material is out there, processes to go large-scale are still far off. Until that hurdle is passed, we’re unlikely to see commercial or industrial applications for some time yet.
