UCLA

Fossil fuels can be burned to provide on-demand energy at any time, but cleaner renewable energy sources such as the sun and wind are intermittent. Energy storage systems, then, that are efficient and also economical and environmentally benign are key to a future fueled by renewable energy. Carbon-based materials are prototypical systems in all these aspects.

Herein, three promising, novel carbon-based materials are presented. These include microporous carbon for supercapacitors produced by the condensation and carbonization of siloxane elastomers, porous graphitic carbon for supercapacitors produced by an aerosol route, and interpenetrating, binder-free carbon nanotube/vanadium nanowire composites for lithium ion battery electrodes produced by chemical crosslinking and aerogel fabrication. These materials syntheses are facile and can be easily scaled up, and their electrochemical performance, especially their energy densities and cycleability, are notable