Batteries and Carbon Nanotubes
November 20, 2009 by Tina Casey
Filed under Infrastructure
Quick-Charge Batteries Get a Boost from Defective Carbon Nanotubes
Researchers at the University of San Diego have discovered that carbon nanotubes don’t have to be perfect to do a better job. The team of UCSD Professor Prabhakar Bandaru and grad student Mark Hoefer found that defective carbon nanotubes actually store energy more effectively than their unflawed counterparts.
The effect, which was originally studied at UCSD by grad student Jeff Nichols, rests in the creation of just the right amount of defects – enough to create additional charge sites on the nanotube, but not enough to break down its electrical conductivity. Though it’s a long way from commercialization, the breakthrough brings us one step closer to the Holy Grail of the electric car, and to the entire battery operated sustainable infrastructure of the future: a genuine quick-charging, long lasting battery.
This is not a new discovery. In late 90’s, the work at Hyperion catalysis (pioneered CVD large scale MWNT production) has showed that for many applications defective CVD MWNTs were advantages compared to structurely perfect arc-grown MWNT. To increase energy storage capacity for CNT supercapacitor electrode, we introduced more defects/functional groups on the CNT surface by nitric acid treatment*.
*In Proceedings of the Sixth Applied Diamond Conference/Second Frontier Carbon Technology Joint Conference (ADC/FCT 2001), CM Niu, R. Hoch and H. Tennent, Aug., 2001.