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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Globally we are currently experiencing considerable challenges in energy and
environment. The use of the available three main fossil fuels – oil, coal, and natural gas
may not always be readily available to meet the global energy demands. In addition the
associated fossil fuel emissions will not be environmentally acceptable and thus alternative
sources of energy are needed. In order to fully develop the potential of all forms of
renewable energy, current challenges in energy storage and conversion have to be met. So
the next generation energy conversion and storage in thin-film and multifunctional devices
depend on nanomaterials and composites, particularly with facile processing and
manufacturing technique.
1.1 NANOMATERIALS
Nanomaterials are structured components with at least one dimension less than 100
nm. Two principal factor cause the properties of nanomaterials differ from other material:
increased relative surface area and quantum effect. This is one of the major reasons why
nanotechnology has a significant impact on energy conversion and storage.As a particle
decrease in size, a greater proportion of atoms are found at the surface compared to those
inside. Nanoparticles have greater surface area per unit mass.
Unique properties of the nano materials arising from their nano range.
Interface and colloid science has given rise to many materials which may be useful in
nanotechnology.
Nanoscale materials can be useful in bulk applications; most present commmerical
applications of nanotechnology are of this flavour.
Progress has been made in using these materials for medical applications.
Nanoscale materials are sometimes used for solar cells, which combats the cost of
traditional solar cells.
CHAPTER 2
NANOMATERIALS FOR ENERGY CONVERSION AND
STORAGE
Nanostructured materials are advantageous in offering huge surface to volume ratios,
favourable transport properties, altered physical properties, and confinement effects
resulting from the nanoscale dimensions, and have been extensively studied for energy-
related applications such as solar cells, catalysts, thermoelectric, lithium ion batteries,
supercapacitors, and hydrogen storage systems. This review focuses on a few select aspects
regarding these topics, demonstrating that nanostructured materials benefit these
applications by:
With demand for clean and sustainable energy sources increasing at an exponential
rate, new material technologies are being explored that could provide cost-effective and
environmentally clean solutions to the world’s energy problems. Developments in the areas
of alternative fuels or energy storage technologies like advanced batteries, fuel cells, ultra
capacitors, and bio-fuels are emerging as strong contenders to petroleum-based sources.
Energy derived from clean and renewable sources like solar and wind power have
tremendous potential, but the practical use of these sources of energy requires efficient
electrical energy storage (EES) technologies that can provide uninterrupted power on
demand. In all of these new technologies, nanomaterials are increasingly playing an active
role by either increasing the efficiency of the energy storage and conversion processes or by
improving device design and performance. Some of the examples are shown below:
2.2 SUPERCAPACITORS
Supercapacitors are of key importance in supporting the voltage of a system during
increased load in everything from portable equipment to electric vehicles. There are two
general categories of electrochemical supercapacitors: electric double layer capacitors
(EDLC) and redox supercapacitors. In contrast to batteries, where the cycle life is limited
because of the repeated contraction and expansion of the electrode on cycling, EDLC
lifetime is in principle infinite, as it operates solely on electrostatic surface charge
accumulation. For redox supercapacitors, some fast faradic charge transfer takes place and
results in large pseudocapacitance. Progress in supercapacitor technology can benefit by
moving from conventional to nanostructured electrodes. In the case of supercapacitors, the
electrode requirements are less demanding than in batteries, at least in terms of electrode
compaction, because power prevails over energy density. Thus, the benefits of nanopowders
with their high-surfacearea (primary nanoparticles) are potentially more important, hence the
staggering interest in nanopowders and their rapid uptake for supercapacitor-based storage
sources.
It is estimated that the world will need to double its energy supply by 2050, 1 so it
is of paramount importance to develop new types of energy sources. Compared to
conventional energy materials, carbon nanomaterials exhibit unusual size- and surface-
dependent (e.g., morphological, electrical, optical, and mechanical) properties that enhance
energy-conversion performance. Specifically, considerable efforts have been expended to
exploit the unique properties of graphene in high performance energy-conversion devices,
including solar cells and fuel cells.
CHAPTER 3
ENERGY CONVERSION METHODS
Energy conversion methods are essential for developing a sustainable materials and
key in renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources describes about the advanced
conversions.
There are several ways to tune the electrochemical self-assembly through lattice
match between the electrode surface and NWs, or use nanostructured templates such as
anodized alumina or track-etched polycarbonate followed by removing the template. Figure
1,shows an example of Titanium oxide NTthin film for photocatalysis conversion of carbon
di oxide to hydrocarbon. The porous Titanium oxide NT membrane promotes carbon di
oxide interaction with Titanium oxide sensitized by Copper cocatalyst and activated by light,
providing the optofluidic synergy between the trapped light and flow reactants. Titanium
nanostructures increase the photocatalytic efficiency by at least ten times when compared
with the commercially available TiO2 product.
Figure3.2 .Graphene has high tensile strength and high electrical conductivity
efficiency and functionality of traditional flat-panel solar cells. Such fiber-solar cells behave
like waveguides to transmit visible light through total internal reflection fromone end to the
other and absorb the evanescent light fabricated around fibers along the side wall of the
fibers.Figure3 depicts the transmission, evanescent light, and total internal reflection from
optical fiber and actual fiber devices made in our laboratory. The three dimensional structure
results in the absorption layer havinga greater surface area than the traditional two-
dimensional absorption layer, which can be maximized by the length of the fiber, resulting
in an increased number of internal reflections and an increased absorption surface area
without making the end of the fiber cell any larger. The example of solution-based multiple
layer processing includes an insitu growth of lead sulphate (PbS) quantum dots (QDs) and
enables the key device fabrication process. The fabrication around optical fibers can be
optimized layer by layer through nanomaterial-coating techniques such as Langmuir
Blodgett and dip-coating processing. Figure 4 shows the nanostructure film consisting of
sensitizer PbS QDs in situ grown in TiO2 NWs and the high electrical conductivity and high
density coating of optical fibers consisting of TiO2 NWs combined with NPs. These fiber
cells can be created without using silicon and using the total internal reflection to
concentrate and transmit light. To maximize efficiency, the absorption layer must strongly
absorb in both the visible and infrared (IR) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
CHAPTER 4
ENERGY STORAGE METHODS
Here the nanomaterials are also used for storage of energy. We can expected that the
nanomaterials using advanced energy storage and recovery solutions will become much
more widely used in the coming years as the efficiency and energy density of semiconductor
increases and manufacturing cost decreases. In the next few decades, our fossil-fuelled cars
and home-heating will need to switch over to electric power as well if we're to have a hope
of averting catastrophic climate change. Electricity is a hugely versatile form of energy, but
it suffers one big drawback: it's relatively difficult to store in a hurry. Batteries can hold
large amounts of power, but they take hours to charge up. Capacitors, on the other hand,
charge almost instantly but store only tiny amounts of power. In our electric-powered future,
when we need to store and release large amounts of electricity very quickly, it's quite likely
we'll turn to supercapacitors (also known as ultracapacitors) that combine the best of both
worlds.
We can store electric charges by different sources such as batteries and capacitors do
a similar job—storing electricity—but in completely different ways:
4.1 BATTERIES
Batteries havetwo electrical terminals (electrodes) separated by a chemical substance
called an electrolyte. When you switch on the power, chemical reactions happen involving
both the electrodes and the electrolyte. These reactions convert the chemicals inside the
battery into other substances, releasing electrical energy as they go. Once the chemicals have
all been depleted, the reactions stop and the battery are flat. In a rechargeable battery, such
as a lithium-ion power pack used in a laptop computer or MP3 player, the reactions can
happily run in either direction—so you can usually charge and discharge hundreds of times
before the battery needs replacing.
Capacitors have many advantages over batteries: they weigh less, generally don't
contain harmful chemicals or toxicmetals, and they can be charged and discharged millions
of times without ever wearing out. But they have a big drawback too: kilo for kilo, their
basic design prevents them from storing anything like the same amount of electrical energy
as batteries. Broadly speaking, you can increase the energy a capacitor will store either by
using a better material for the dielectric or by using bigger metal plates. To store a
significant amount of energy, you'd need to use absolutely whopping plates. Thunderclouds,
for example, are effectively super-gigantic capacitors that store massive amounts of
power—and we all know how big those are!
4.3 SUPERCAPACITOR
CHAPTER 5
SUPER CAPACITOR
Supercapacitors, also known as ultracapacitors, are able to hold hundreds of times
the amount of electrical charge as standard capacitors, and are therefore suitable as a
replacement for electrochemical batteries in many industrial and commercial applications.
Supercapacitors also work in very low temperatures; a situation that can prevent many types
of electrochemical batteries from working. For these reasons, supercapacitors are already
being used in emergency radios and flashlights, where energy can be produced kinetically
(by winding a handle, for example) and then stored in a supercapacitor for the device to use.
In an ordinary capacitor, the plates are separated by a relatively thick dielectric made from
something like mica (a ceramic), a thin plastic film, or even simply air (in something like a
capacitor that acts as the tuning dial inside a radio. When the capacitor is charged, positive
charges form on one plate and negative charges on the other, creating an electric field
between them. The field polarizes the dielectric, so its molecules line up in the opposite
direction to the field and reduce its strength. That means the plates can store more charge at
a given voltage.
The capacitance of a capacitor increases as the area of the plates increases and as the
distance between the plates decreases. In a nutshell, supercapacitors get their much bigger
capacitance from a combination of plates with a bigger, effective surface area (because of
their activated charcoal construction) and less distance between them (because of the very
effective double layer).
The first supercapacitors were made in the late 1950s using activated charcoal as the
plates. Since then, advances in material science have led to the development of much more
effective plates made from such things as carbon nanotubes (tiny carbon rods built
using nanotechnology, graphene aerogel, and barium titanate.Figure Top: Ordinary
capacitors store static electricity by building up opposite charges on two metal plates (blue
and red) separated by an insulating material called a dielectric (grey). The electric field
between the plates polarizes the molecules (or atoms) of the dielectric, making them align in
the opposite way to the field. This reduces the strength of the field and allows the capacitor
to store more charge for a given voltage. Read more in our article on capacitors.
Bottom: Supercapacitors store more energy than ordinary capacitors by creating a very thin,
"double layer" of charge between two plates, which are made from porous, typically carbon-
based materials soaked in an electrolyte. The plates effectively have a bigger surface area
and less separation, which gives a supercapacitor its ability to store much more charge.
You often see batteries and supercapacitors compared in terms of their energy and
power. In everyday speak, these two words are used interchangeably; in science, power is
the amount of energy used or produced in a certain amount of time. Batteries have a
higherenergy density (they store more energy per unit mass) but supercapacitors have a
higher power density (they can release energy more quickly). That makes supercapacitors
particularly suitable for storing and releasing large amounts of power relatively quickly, but
batteries are still king for storing large amounts of energy over long periods of time.
Although supercapacitors work at relatively low voltages (maybe 2–3 volts), they
can be connected in series (like batteries) to produce bigger voltages for use in more
powerful equipment. Since supercapacitors work electrostatically, rather than through
reversible chemical reactions, they can theoretically be charged and discharged any number
of times (specification sheets for commercial supercapacitors suggest you can cycle them
perhaps a million times). They have little or no internal resistance, which means they store
and release energy without using much energy—and work at very close to 100 percent
efficiency (97–98 percent is typical).
If you need to store a reasonable amount of energy for a relatively short period of
time (from a few seconds to a few minutes), you've got too much energy to store in a
capacitor and you've not got time to charge a battery, a supercapacitor may be just what you
need. Supercapacitors have been widely used as the electrical equivalents of flywheels in
machines—"energy reservoirs" that smooth out power supplies to electrical and electronic
equipment. Supercapacitors can also be connected to batteries to regulate the power they
supply.
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
[4] Tao Chen and Liming Diea, ”Carbon nanomaterials for high performance
supercapacitors”,materials today. Volume 16, number 7/8b 2013
[5] Fernand D.S. Marquis “Carbon Nanotube Nanostructured Hybrid Materials Systems for
Renewable Energy Applications”, journal of nanomaerials, 2011,300234