การวัดแบบโวลตามเมตริกด้วยการกวาดศักย์ไฟฟ้าแบบคลื่นไซน์เพื่อจำแนกกลไกการเก็บประจุ

As the global demand for clean and sustainable energy solutions intensifies, there is an increasing focus on the development of energy storage technologies to support the integration of renewable energy sources and enhance overall energy efficiency. Among these technologies, supercapacitors stand out as promising candidates due to their high power density, fast charge/discharge rates, and long cycle life compared to traditional batteries. However, to fully harness the potential of supercapacitors, researchers are continuously exploring innovative electrode materials and designs to improve their performance. In recent years, significant progress has been made in advancing supercapacitor electrode materials, ranging from various carbon-based materials (e.g., activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene) to metal oxides (e.g., ruthenium oxide, manganese oxide) and conducting polymers (e.g., polyaniline, polypyrrole). These materials have shown great promise in enhancing energy storage performance, such as increasing specific capacitance, improving cycling stability, and reducing internal resistance. Despite these remarkable advancements, there are still critical challenges that hinder the full understanding and optimization of supercapacitor charge storage mechanisms. One of the main hurdles lies in accurately quantifying the contributions of different charge storage mechanisms in these advanced electrode materials. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial because it allows researchers to tailor the material properties to optimize energy storage performance effectively.

Traditionally, cyclic voltammetry (CV) has been the go-to technique for investigating charge storage mechanisms in supercapacitors. In CV measurements, the electrode potential is cycled back and forth between specific voltage limits, and the resulting current response is recorded. This approach provides valuable information about the charge storage behavior of the electrode material. However, as more sophisticated materials and electrode designs emerge, conventional CV methods may not be fully adequate to capture the intricate details of the charge storage mechanisms. To address this limitation, the present work proposes an alternative approach to studying charge storage in supercapacitors. Specifically, the researchers advocate using voltammetric measurements with a sinusoidal potential scan. Unlike the conventional triangular potential scans, the sinusoidal approach offers distinct advantages. It provides a more continuous and smooth potential sweep, which can lead to improved signal-to-noise ratios and better accuracy in measuring the current response. Additionally, the sinusoidal method allows for easy manipulation of the scan frequency, which can provide insights into the kinetic processes of charge storage and diffusion phenomena within the electrode materials. By employing this alternative approach, the researchers aim to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental aspects of charge storage mechanisms in advanced electrode materials. Moreover, the results obtained from the sinusoidal potential scan will be compared with those derived from conventional CV methods, such as Trasatti's and Dunn's methods.

The potential impact of this research goes beyond the academic realm. Accurately quantifying charge storage contributions in supercapacitors is crucial for designing high-performance energy storage devices that can meet the ever-increasing energy demands of modern society. With the proposed alternative approach, researchers and engineers will have a more comprehensive toolkit to analyze and optimize the performance of supercapacitors using a variety of electrode materials. This will pave the way for the development of more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective supercapacitors that can be integrated into various applications, including portable electronics, electric vehicles, grid energy storage systems, and more.