Hierarchical nanowire composites for electrochemical energy storage
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsYunfeng Lu, Zheng Chen
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Abstract
Provided is a new supercapacitor electrode material, comprising multiple interpenetrating networks of nanowires. More specifically, an interpenetrating network of metal oxide nanowires and an interpenetrating network of electrically conductive nanowires may form a composite film having a hierarchal porous structure. This hierarchically porous, interpenetrating network structure can provide the composite film with high capacitance, electrical conductivity and excellent rate performance. The present invention can be generalized towards other capacitor composites, opening a new avenue for a large spectrum of device applications.
Claims19
A supercapacitor electrode, comprising:
- a first network of nanowires;
- and
- a second network of nanowires;
- wherein the first network of nanowires and the second network of nanowires are interpenetrating;
- and
- wherein the first network of nanowires and the second network of nanowires form hierarchical porous channels, such that substantially all pores in the supercapacitor electrode have diameters less than 20 nm or greater than 100 nm.
A composite film, comprising:
- a first network of nanowires;
- and
- a second network of nanowires;
- wherein the first network of nanowires and the second network of nanowires are interpenetrating;
- wherein the composite film has a thickness of at least 1 micron;
- and
- wherein metal oxide nanowires are present in the composite film at a concentration of at least 10 wt-%.
A supercapacitor, comprising:
- a first electrode;
- a second electrode;
- and
- and an electrolyte;
- wherein at least one of the first electrode and the second electrode comprises multiple interpenetrating networks of nanowires and has a substantially microporous and macroporous pore structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.