New graphene oxide super-material is on the way to delivering next-generation supercapacitors, researchers say

Australian researchers have identified “a new kind of carbon-based material” allowing supercapacitors to store as much energy as lead-acid batteries while also performing better than conventional batteries at delivering power quickly.

According to a statement from the university on Tuesday, the results are “a major leap forward” for fast, powerful energy storage devices, and are now being commercialised by Ionic Industries.  

The new material is named as multiscale reduced graphene oxide (M-rGO) and was created from naturally-occurring graphite. It is described as being made using a “rapid thermal annealing process” and featuring a “highly curved graphene structure with precise pathways for ions to move quickly and efficiently”.

The promising new material is detailed in a new paper in Nature Communications.

Monash’s Professor Mainak Majumder, who was part of the research team and heads the ARC Research Hub for Advanced Manufacturing with 2D Materials (AM2D), said that M-rGO made much more surface area available for storing energy, and which was unlocked by the method of heat treatment.

“This discovery could allow us to build fast-charging supercapacitors that store enough energy to replace batteries in many applications, and deliver it far more quickly,” Majumder added.

Dr Petar Jovanović, a research fellow at AM2D Hub and study co-author, said that, when assembled into pouch cell devices, the Monash supercapacitors delivered “performance metrics are among the best ever reported for carbon-based supercapacitors” and with a process that is “scalable and compatible with Australian raw materials”.

These metrics were listed as volumetric energy densities “of up to 99.5 Wh/L (in ionic liquid electrolytes)” as well as power densities “as high as 69.2 kW/L”.

Dr Phillip Aitchison, was a co-author of the paper and is the CTO of Ionic Industries, which was formed in 2014 to commercialise Monash graphene research. He said that “commercial quantities of these graphene materials” were currently being made.

“We’re working with energy storage partners to bring this breakthrough to market-led applications – where both high energy and fast power delivery are essential,” said Aitchison.

Picture: the research team (credit Monash)

Further reading

Turquoise Group wants to turn up the volume for graphene

Graphene set to change the future, but Australian commercialisation needs incentivisation

Technologies and tools for a manufacturing transformation: new materials