Recent Development in Vanadium Pentoxide and Carbon Hybrid Active Materials for Energy Storage Devices

With the increasing energy demand for portable electronics, electric vehicles, and green energy storage solutions, the development of high-performance supercapacitors has been at the forefront of energy storage and conversion research. In the past decade, many scientific publications have been dedicated to designing hybrid electrode materials composed of vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) and carbon nanomaterials to bridge the gap in energy and power of traditional batteries and capacitors. V₂O₅ is a promising electrode material owing to its natural abundance, nontoxicity, and high capacitive potential. However, bulk V₂O₅ is limited by poor conductivity, low porosity, and dissolution during charge/discharge cycles. To overcome the limitations of V₂O₅, many researchers have incorporated common carbon nanostructures such as reduced graphene oxides, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and other carbon moieties into V₂O₅. The carbon components facilitate electron mobility and act as porous templates for V₂O₅ nucleation with an enhanced surface area as well as interconnected surface morphology and structural stability. This review discusses the development of various V₂O₅/carbon hybrid materials, focusing on the effects of different synthesis methods, V₂O₅/carbon compositions, and physical treatment strategies on the structure and electrochemical performance of the composite material as promising supercapacitor electrodes.