The Synthesis and Characterization of Bioactive Carbon Material Supercapacitor Loaded with Nickel Hydroxide
Supercapacitor is an environmentally friendly energy storage device, which fills the gap between traditional capacitors and batteries, and its energy density and power density are higher than the battery [1]. Moreover, the supercapacitor has the characteristics of high charging and discharging efficiency and long cycle life. This makes it used in the electric vehicles, high powered weapons, standby power in electronic equipment, flash of industrial equipment and ignition device [2]. So it has great significance for the basic research, the development of electronic industry and the electric vehicle to carry out the supercapacitor electrode materials [3]. Here, we firstly prepared the activated carbon materials by carbonizing, activating the biological material, then prepared the nickel hydroxide/activated carbon composites by direct precipitation method, and studied the electrochemical properties of composite materials with different nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)2) contents (the mass fraction). The results of cyclic voltammetry and constant current charge-discharge are that a small amount of Ni(OH)2 are mixed in the carbon surface and pores, the composite material has a good specific capacitance, stability, charging and discharging performance compared with the activated carbon. When the mass fraction of Ni(OH)2 is 12%, the supercapacitor exhibits the excellent electrochemical properties, its capacitance is up to 400.78F/g which improved 75.21% compared with the activated carbon’s capacitance (228.74F/g). 6mol/L potassium hydroxide (KOH) is used as an electrolyte, the capacitance is only reduced to 94.42% after conducting 1000 times cycle life tests. This means that the supercapacitor shows a good stability.
Prospects of Ageing Characteristic and Life Test Research on Supercapacitors
Supercapacitors hold a promising future in large-scale energy storage field.Due to the low terminal voltage,supercapacitors are compulsory attached in serial in large amount to meet the overall voltage requirement of an energy storage system,whose collapse would probably results from failure of one single cell.Therefore,it is essential to research on ageing and lifetime of supercapacitors.The paper first reviews the ageing characteristic of supercapacitors,and then illustrates the factors which may influence supercapacitor’s life span.Additionally,the paper demonstrates the temperature factor,one of the most influencing ageing factors,to verify its effect on supercapacitor’s feature parameters.After that,the paper compares the traits as well as the scope of applications between the calendar life test and the cycle life test;both tests’ demerits are also evaluated.By analyzing the state-of-the-art,the paper finally predicts the research tendency.
Engineering bio-inks for 3D bioprinting cell mechanical microenvironment
Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has become a promising approach to construct­ing functional biomimetic tissues for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In 3D bioprinting, bio-inks are essential for the construction of cell microenviron­ment, thus affecting the biomimetic design and regenerative efficiency. Mechanical properties are one of the essential aspects of microenvironment, which can be char­acterized by matrix stiffness, viscoelasticity, topography, and dynamic mechanical stimulation. With the recent advances in functional biomaterials, various engineered bio-inks have realized the possibility of engineering cell mechanical microenviron­ment in vivo. In this review, we summarize the critical mechanical cues of cell micro­environments, review the engineered bio-inks while focusing on the selection princi­ples for constructing cell mechanical microenvironments, and discuss the challenges facing this field and the possible solutions for them.