Vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes for electrochemical energy conversion and storage

Abstract

Vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs) have a large surface area, high electronic conductivity and electrochemical accessibility, and mechanical/ chemical/electrochemical stability. These unique properties make VA-CNTs promising electrode materials for energy conversion and storage devices, including fuel cells, lithium batteries, and supercapacitors. This chapter provides an overview on recent development of VA-CNT electrodes with and without heteroatom-doping for efficient energy conversion and storage by summarizing our work on the discovery of nitrogen-doped VA-CNTs as a highly active cathode for ORR in fuel cells, vertically aligned nitrogen doped coral-like carbon fiber arrays (VA-NCCFs) as a high-performance air cathode in Li-air batteries, as well as VA-CNTs and their 3D derivatives as porous electrodes in high-performance Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors.