Project R-14966

Diamond composite materials for high-performance flexible aqueous batteries (Research)

Aqueous rechargeable batteries stand out as highly attractive for large-scale energy storage due to their excellent safety, low cost, and eco-friendliness. However, there is still an ongoing effort to design highperformance electrode materials to satisfy the energy needs of such devices. Among the electrode materials, carbon materials play an important role in these applications due to their high electric conductivity, tuneable surface chemistry and adjusting pore structure. Conductive diamond has been recognized as one of the best candidates since its capacitance is extremely stable in different media and under different current densities or voltages. Its potential window can be as wide as 3.2 V in aqueous solutions. Meanwhile, its low capacity can be improved by coating diamond electrodes with pseudocapacitive species (e.g., polymer, metal oxide) using electrochemical, photochemical, and thermal approaches. Unfortunately, flexible devices using diamond electrodes still surfer from low energy densities and workable flexible batteries at high or low temperatures are still challenging. To overcome these challenges, more efforts need to be made on the design and synthesis of novel capacitor electrodes as well as their performance investigation. In this project, we thus focus on structural design of diamond composites for the construction of flexible aqueous batteries featuring high energy density and wide working voltages.

01 August 2024 - 30 June 2025