Structural energy and power combines the load-bearing capabilities of structural composites with the energy storage capabilities of batteries and supercapacitors. The potential benefit is reduced mass and volume in electrified transportation, enhanced resilience to impact, and improved safety. Desired characteristics include high stiffness, dimensional stability with cycling, high energy, and high power. Whereas other approaches use the external packaging to impart structural integrity, these approaches do not consider the mechanical properties of the internal electrodes or the electrolyte. Therefore, this talk will focus upon how electrodes themselves can bear enhanced stiffness. As an important consideration, we examine the electrochemo-mechanical coupling in which, for example, applied strains can impart noticable changes in performance. For supercapacitors, we examine a high-stiffness electrode composition of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets and Kevlar aramid nanofibers (ANFs) with experiments and micromechanical modeling.The rGO nanosheets provide surface area for the electrical double layer, and the ANFs stiffly anchor among the rGO sheets. The key finding is that chemical modification of the rGO surface can dramatically enhance stiffness through numerous noncovalent interactions. For batteries, we examine electrodes based upon high stiffness carbon fiber fabrics that support redox active polymer materials. The key finding is that the redox active polymer material can uniformly coat the carbon fiber to yield suitable cathodes and anodes. Regarding electrochemo-mechanical coupling, we report the creation and utilization of an instrument that applies tensile strains to free-standing electrodes and measures the real-time evolution of stress during electrochemical cycling. Together, this work points to future directions in structural energy and power, specifically for extreme environments.

Advances in structural batteries and supercapacitors

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ACS Spring 2023

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