Hybrid Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube TiO2 Electrode Material for Next Generation Energy Storage Devices

Abstract

Current supercapacitors present several distinct limitations that severely inhibit the efficiency, power, and electrical capacitance of energy storage devices. Supercapacitors present an exciting prospect that has countless applications in renewable energy storage and modern day electronic devices. In recent years the exciting development of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has presented an advantage in electrode development. CNTs, however beneficial for their increased electrode surface area, have severe limitations regarding conductivity and electrode density. Creating a nanocomposite hybrid out of a transition metal-oxide and carbon nanotube array would help the current limitations of the modern supercapacitor. TiO2 was chosen for its common occurrence in everyday materials and promising capacitance levels. A multi-walled carbon nanotube array was grown on a SiO2 precursor via CCVD. The transition metal oxide was then deposited via RF Sputtering methods to a MWCNT array. Recharge tests and characterization were conducted using scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM). While these tests are preliminary, this novel hybrid electrode represents an exciting prospect for the future of the efficiency of electrochemical energy storage as well as an advance towards a future of providing inexpensive energy storage solutions around the world.