Porosity tunable graphitic carbons for energy applications

Abstract

With growing demand on energy sources, diminishing natural resources and increasing environment issues, the development of safe, no-pollution, low-cost and renewable energy systems where combustion no longer dominates has become a grand challenge nowadays. Among the various energy storage systems, supercapacitor and Zn-air batteries are considered as the most realizable and effective candidates due to their high efficiency, safety, durability, and low cost. Supercapacitor electrode requires the large surface area, good chemical stability, and high electrical conductivity because it stores charges by electrostatic adsorption/desorption of the electrolyte ions onto electrodes. Besides, in the case of the Zn-air battery, the development of highly efficient oxygen catalyst without precious metal including Pt, Ir, and Ru which facilitates the sluggish oxygen related reaction is required for real application. This thesis covers the development of three-dimensional porous graphitic carbon structures and their applications to supercapacitor electrodes and oxygen electrocatalyst for Zn-air battery. The excellent property of porous carbon architectures for energy applications are mostly due to the large specific surface area with desirable porosity and the large amount of electrochemical active site density. This work suggests the promising way to fabricate highly efficient and durable carbon nanomaterials for energy-related applications.