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Published on: February 5, 2020
Zinc-Guided 3D Graphene for Thermally Chargeable Supercapacitors to Harvest Low-Grade Heat
Qi Wang1, Pengyuan Liu1, Fanyu Zhou1
1National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures (NLSSM), Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Abstract:
Low-grade heat energy recycling is the key technology of waste-heat utilization, which needs to be improved. Here, we use a zinc-assisted solid-state pyrolysis route to prepare zinc-guided 3D graphene (ZnG), a 3D porous graphene with the interconnected structure. The obtained ZnG, with a high specific surface area of 1817 m2·g-1 and abundant micropores and mesopores, gives a specific capacitance of 139 F·g-1 in a neutral electrolyte when used as electrode material for supercapacitors. At a high current density of 8 A·g-1, the capacitance retention is 93% after 10,000 cycles. When ZnG is used for thermally chargeable supercapacitors, the thermoelectric conversion of the low-grade heat energy is successfully realized. This work thus provides a demonstration for low-grade heat energy conversion.
