Carbon Nanoparticle for Energy Storage

NU 2013-141

 

Inventors

Nam Dong Kim

Donald Bruce Buchholz

Byunghong Lee

Robert P.H Chang*

 

Short Description

Design of a carbon-based high charge density nanostructure (HDN) for energy storage

 

Abstract

Advances in the development of renewable energy sources and their storage have propelled efforts to design and fabricate ever higher charge density nanostructures (HDNs) that are cost-effective and safe. An optimal HDN would have a high surface area, many sub-nanochannels through which charged species could access the internal surfaces and favorable surface reactivity. Northwestern University researchers rose to this challenge by designing and generating spherical, carbon-based HDNs. These cost-effective nanoparticles functioned as supercapacitors with a very high power density when assembled into dense films. When coupled with electro-spraying for film formation these carbon nanoparticles are the obvious choice for production of supercapacitors.

 

Applications

  • Solar cells
  • Supercapacitors
  • Fuel cells
  • Batteries
  • Remote energy storage

 

Advantages

  • Inexpensive
  • Safe
  • Simple to apply compared to current alternatives

 

Publications

Kim ND, Buchholz DB, Casillas G, Jose-Yacaman M, Chang RPH. (2014) Hierarchical Design for Fabricating Cost-Effective High Performance Supercapacitors. Advanced Functional Materials. 24: 4186-4194.

 

IP Status

US patent application has been filed

Patent Information: