New technologies for energy conversion (e.g., solar cells and fuel cells) and energy storage (e.g., supercapacitors and batteries) are currently under intensive research. Given that performance of these devices strongly rely on the materilas employed, various emerging nanomaterials have been developed for applications in energy-related devices. Of particular interest, considerable efforts have been devoted to cabon nanomaterials for energy applications. As a building block for carbon materials of all other dimensionalities, such as 0D buckyball, 1D nanotube, and 3D graphite, graphene has  quickly emerged as attractive energy material due to its unique properties, including large specific surface area (2630 m2 g-1 ), high electrical conductivity (106 S cm-1), high thermal conductivity (~ 5000 W m-1 K-1), high transparancy (absorbance of 2.3%), great mechanical strength (breaking strength of 42 N m-1 and Young's modulus of 1.0 TPa), low weight, and excellent flexibility. It is very rare for a material with desirable bulk properties to also possess the surface characteristics required for certain specific applications. Therefore, surface functionalization is essential in making sophisticated graphene materials of good bulk and surface properties as demanded for efficient energy conversion and storage. Below, we summarize some of our rational concepts for controlled functionalization of graphene and new strategies for the development of energy conversion (e.g., solar cells, fuel cells) and storage (e.g., supercapacitors, batteries) devices from the functionalized graphene materials.

Graphene based materials for energy conversion and storage

244th National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.