The global shift of energy production from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources requires more efficient and reliable electrochemical energy storage devices. In particular, the development of electric or hydrogen powered vehicles calls for much higher performance batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells than currently available. In this talk, I will review our recent work on electrochemical energy storage materials and electrocatalysts based on strongly coupled hybrids (SC-hybrids) of inorganic nanomaterials and carbon nanotubes and graphene, obtained by nucleation and growth of nanoparticles off functional groups of oxidized graphitic nano-carbon. The inorganic/graphitic-nano-carbon hybrid materials represent a new approach to electrode materials with higher electrochemical performance than traditional counterparts made by simple physical mixtures of electrochemically active inorganic particles and conducting carbon materials. The inorganic/graphitic-nano-carbon hybrid materials are novel due to possible chemical bonding between inorganic nanoparticles and oxidized carbon, affording enhanced charge transport and increased rate capability of electrochemical materials by orders of magnitude without sacrificing specific capacity. Graphitic-nano-carbon with various degrees of oxidation provides a novel substrate for nanoparticle nucleation and growth, through which the inorganic precursor-carbon substrate interactions provide a degree of control over the morphology, size and structure of the resulting inorganic nanoparticles. I will review the development of inorganic/graphitic-nano-carbon hybrid materials for electrochemical energy storage and conversion, including the preparation and functionalization of graphene sheets and carbon nanotubes to impart oxygen containing groups and defect, and methods of synthesis of nanoparticles of various morphologies on oxidized graphene and carbon nanotubes. I will present the applications of the strongly coupled hybrid materials for high performance lithium ion batteries, and ultrafast Ni-Fe batteries, and new electrocatalysts for metal air batteries.

Strongly coupled inorganic/graphitic-nanocarbon hybrid materials for energy storage

245th National Meeting (2013)

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