Microwave as a Tool for Synthesis of Carbon-Based Electrodes for Energy Storage

This Spotlight on Applications highlights the significant impact of microwave-assisted methods for synthesis and modification of carbon materials with enhanced properties for electrodes in energy storage applications (supercapacitors and batteries). For the past few years, microwave irradiation has been increasingly used for the synthesis of carbon materials with different morphologies using various precursors. Microwave processing exhibits numerous advantages, such as short processing times, high yield, expanded reaction conditions, high reproducibility, and high purity of products. On this frontier research area, we have discussed microwave-assisted synthesis, defect creation, simultaneous reduction and exfoliation, and heteroatom doping in carbon materials. By careful manipulation of microwave irradiation parameters, the method becomes a powerful and efficient tool to generate different morphologies in carbon-based materials. Other important outcomes are the flexible control over the degree of reduction and exfoliation of graphene derivatives, the generation of defects in graphene-based materials by metals, the intercalation of metal oxides into graphene derivatives, and heteroatom doping of graphene materials. The Spotlight on Applications aims to provide a condensed overview of the current progress in carbon-based electrodes synthesized by microwave, pointing out outstanding challenges and offering a few suggestions to trigger more research endeavors in this important field.