synthesizing-gel-polymer-electrolyte-for-supercapacitors-assembling

Synthesizing a Gel Polymer Electrolyte for Supercapacitors, Assembling a Supercapacitor Using a Coin Cell, and Measuring Gel Electrolyte Performance

Supercapacitors (SC) have attracted attention as energy storage devices due to their high density and long cycle performance. SCs used in devices ...

Korea University of Technology and Education

The increasing use of rapidly fluctuating renewable energy sources, such as sunlight, has necessitated the use of supercapacitors, which are a type of energy storage system with high power. Chemically exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) is a representative starting material in the fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes based on reduced GO (rGO). However, the restacking of rGO sheets driven by π-π stacking interactions leads to a significant decrease in the electrochemically active surface area, leading to a loss of energy density. Here, to effectively inhibit restacking and construct a three-dimensional wrinkled structure of rGO (3DWG), we propose an agarose gel-templating method that uses agarose gel as a soft and removable template. The 3DWG, prepared via the sequential steps of gelation, freeze-drying, and calcination, exhibits a macroporous 3D structure and 5.5-fold higher specific capacitance than that of rGO restacked without the agarose template. Further, we demonstrate a "gel-stamping" method to fabricate thin-line patterned 3DWG, which involves the gelation of the GO-agarose gel within micrometer-sized channels of a customized polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold. As an easy and low-cost manufacturing process, the proposed agarose gel templating method could provide a promising strategy for the 3D structuring of rGO.

Agarose Gel-Templating Synthesis of a 3D Wrinkled Graphene Architecture for Enhanced Supercapacitor Performance.

Plants and algae are faced with a conundrum: harvesting sufficient light to drive their metabolic needs while dissipating light in excess to prevent photodamage, a process known as nonphotochemical quenching. A slowly relaxing form of energy dissipation, termed qH, is critical for plants' survival under abiotic stress; however, qH location in the photosynthetic membrane is unresolved. Here, we tested whether we could isolate subcomplexes from plants in which qH was induced that would remain in an energy-dissipative state. Interestingly, we found that chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence lifetimes were decreased by qH in isolated major trimeric antenna complexes, indicating that they serve as a site for qH-energy dissipation and providing a natively quenched complex with physiological relevance to natural conditions. Next, we monitored the changes in thylakoid pigment, protein, and lipid contents of antenna with active or inactive qH but did not detect any evident differences. Finally, we investigated whether specific subunits of the major antenna complexes were required for qH but found that qH was insensitive to trimer composition. Because we previously observed that qH can occur in the absence of specific xanthophylls, and no evident changes in pigments, proteins, or lipids were detected, we tentatively propose that the energy-dissipative state reported here may stem from Chl-Chl excitonic interaction.

Soomin Park

School of Energy,
Materials and Chemical Engineering,
School of Energy, Materials and Chemical Engineering

Korea University of Technology and Education

Synthesizing a Gel Polymer Electrolyte for Supercapacitors, Assembling a Supercapacitor Using a Coin Cell, and Measuring Gel Electrolyte Performance

Soomin Park

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}School of Energy,Materials and Chemical Engineering,School of Energy, Materials and Chemical Engineering

Korea University of Technology and Education

Synthesizing a Gel Polymer Electrolyte for Supercapacitors, Assembling a Supercapacitor Using a Coin Cell, and Measuring Gel Electrolyte Performance

School of Energy,
Materials and Chemical Engineering,
School of Energy, Materials and Chemical Engineering