About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T25: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials for Alternative Energy
|
| Presentation Title |
Hybrid carbon nanotube – gold electrode materials for high performance energy storage devices |
| Author(s) |
Noe Alvarez, Chaminda Nawarathne, Jorge Seminario, Camila Jaillita |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Noe Alvarez |
| Abstract Scope |
Most energy storage electrodes use organic films on metal collectors, relying on weak physisorption at the interface, which limits their durability and charge transport. This work introduces hybrid materials that form chemical bonds between vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs) and metals at low temperatures (~120 °C), creating chemical bonding as robust and conductive interfaces. Using organic linker molecules, VACNTs were chemically bonded to gold while maintaining their free-standing structural geometry. The CNTs composing the VA-CNTs have open-ends to facilitate the chemical bonding as well as increase the surface area. This post-processing method, applied to VA-CNTs grown on Al₂O₃/Si substrates, resulted in low interfacial resistance (~0.5 kΩ nm⁻²) and high conductivity. Supercapacitors built with these VA-CNT/Au electrodes achieved specific capacitances of 50 mF cm⁻² (9.5 F g⁻¹) and retained 74% performance after 100,000 cycles—outperforming conventional VA-CNT-based EDLCs. This approach demonstrates a path toward more durable, efficient energy storage devices. |