Lawrence Livermore researchers have identified electrical chargeThe amount of electricity present upon the capacitor's plates. Also, the act of forcing of electrons onto the capacitor's plates. See CoulombA coulomb is the unit of electric charge. It is named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb.1 coulomb is the amount of electric charge transported by a current of 1 ampere in 1 second. It can also be defined in terms of capacitance and voltage, where one coulomb is defined as one farad of capacitance times one volt of electric potential difference..-induced changes in the structure and bonding of graphitic carbon electrodes that may one day affect the way energy is stored.
The research could lead to an improvement in the capacity and efficiency of electrical energy storage systems, such as batteries and supercapacitorsUnconventional internal design yields a larger capacitanceThat property of a system of conductors and dielectrics which permits the storage of electricity when potential difference exists between the conductors. Its value is expressed as the ratio of a quantity of electricity to a potential difference. A capacitance value is always positive. per unit volume than other types. Valuable for high-current and low frequencyThe number of complete cycles or vibrations per unit of time. Rate of alternation in an AC current. Expressed in cycles per second or hertz (Hz). electrical circuits, power supply filters, etc. Applications are similar to those of rechargeable batteries., needed to meet the burgeoning demands of consumer, industrial and green technologies.
Lawrence Livermore research has opened a new window toward more efficient electrochemical energy storage systems. (Illustration by Ryan Chen/LLNL)
Future technology requires energy storage systems to have much larger storage capability, rapid chargeThe amount of electricity present upon the capacitor's plates. Also, the act of forcing of electrons onto the capacitor's plates. See CoulombA coulomb is the unit of electric charge. It is named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb.1 coulomb is the amount of electric charge transported by a current of 1 ampere in 1 second. It can also be defined in terms of capacitance and voltage, where one coulomb is defined as one farad of capacitance times one volt of electric potential difference../discharge cycling and improved endurance. Progress in these areas demands a more complete understanding of energy storage processes from atomic through micron-length scales. Because these complex processes can change significantly as the system is charged and discharged, researchers have increasingly focused on how to look inside an operating energy storage system. While computational approaches have advanced over the last few decades, the development of experimental approaches has been very challenging, particularly for studying the light elements that are prevalent in energy storage materials.
Recent work by an LLNL-led team developed a new X-ray adsorption spectroscopy capability that is tightly coupled with a modeling effort to provide key information about how the structure and bonding of graphitic carbon supercapacitor electrodes are affected by polarization of the electrodeA solid electric conductor through which an electric current enters or leaves in a medium – electrolyte interfaces during charging.
Graphitic supercapacitorsUnconventional internal design yields a larger capacitanceThat property of a system of conductors and dielectrics which permits the storage of electricity when potential difference exists between the conductors. Its value is expressed as the ratio of a quantity of electricity to a potential difference. A capacitance value is always positive. per unit volume than other types. Valuable for high-current and low frequencyThe number of complete cycles or vibrations per unit of time. Rate of alternation in an AC current. Expressed in cycles per second or hertz (Hz). electrical circuits, power supply filters, etc. Applications are similar to those of rechargeable batteries. are ideal model systems to probe interfacial phenomena because they are relatively chemically stable, extensively characterized experimentally and theoretically and are interesting technologically. The team used its recently developed 3D nanographene (3D-NG) bulk electrodeA solid electric conductor through which an electric current enters or leaves in a medium material as a model graphitic material.
