Tailoring the Structure of Carbon Nanomaterials toward High‐End Energy Applications

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 30; no. 48; pp. e1802104 - n/a
• Main Authors: Liu, Daobin, Ni, Kun, Ye, Jianglin, Xie, Jian, Zhu, Yanwu, Song, Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-11-2018
• Subjects: Carbon; carbon nanomaterials; Electrochemical analysis; Electron transfer; electronic structure; Energy storage; Heterostructures; high‐end energy applications; Mechanical properties; microstructure; Nanomaterials; structure–performance relationship; Thermal conductivity; carbon nanomaterials; microstructure; structure-performance relationship; high-end energy applications; electronic structure
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201802104

Carbon nanomaterials are perceived to be ideally suited candidates for high‐end energy applications, owing to their unparalleled advantages including superior electric and thermal conductivity, excellent mechanical properties, and high specific surface areas. It has been demonstrated through several research contributions that the electrochemical performance of carbon nanomaterials significantly depends upon their versatile electronic structures and microstructures. These can be precisely tailored by rational defect engineering, heteroatom doping, heterostructure coupling, and pore fabrication, which largely affect the intrinsic nature of active sites and facilitate the ion/electron transfer. Herein, the recent progress in tailoring carbon nanostructures toward high‐end electrocatalysis and supercapacitor applications is summarized, with an emphasis on synthesis strategies, advanced characterizations, and specific elucidation of structure–performance relationship. The challenges and opportunities for the rational design and detection of variously tailored carbon nanomaterials that can further improve the fundamental understanding and practical applications in the field of energy storage and conversion are also discussed.
The recent advances in tailoring carbon nanomaterials from the aspects of defect engineering, heteroatom doping, heterostructure coupling, and microstructure modulation are briefly summarized. An overview of the synthesis strategies and advanced characterization methods is presented, with an emphasis on the elucidation of the structure–performance relationship for electrocatalysis and supercapacitors. Finally, possible solutions to the challenges that still remain unresolved in the mentioned energy‐related applications are discussed.