On 30 August at 12:15 Ester Tee will defend her doctoral thesis „Analysis and development of selective synthesis methods of hierarchical micro- and mesoporous carbons“ for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in chemistry).
Supervisors:
Professor. Enn Lust (PhD), Institute of Chemisrty, University of Tartu
Senior Research Fellow Thomas Thomberg (PhD), Institute of Chemisrty, University of Tartu
Indrek Tallo (PhD), University of Tartu
Oponent:
Associate Professor Olivier Crosnier (PhD), , University of Nantes, Institute of Materials Jean Rouxel, France
Summary:
Sustainable and eco-friendly energy is increasingly being given worldwide attention to tackle the global climate challenges. The application of renewable energy sources needs effective energy storage systems. One of these are supercapacitors, which allow very fast charging and discharging and at the same time are suitable for high power applications. One very important component affecting the performance of the supercapacitors are the active materials used for preparing the electrodes. Different porous carbon materials are very common for this application. Research, production and use of porous carbons is growing worldwide and in addition to energy storage devices, they are also widely used for example in water purification equipment, hydrogen storage, air purification, etc.
Depending on the application, the carbon material must have specific properties and structure. These in turn depend on precursors and methods used to synthesize the carbon materials. Different precursors can be used, for example biomass, sugars, carbides, polymers, etc. The price-quality ratio must also be kept in mind – the material should be cheap and easy to produce, but suitable for the specific application.
In this thesis, porous carbon materials were synthesized from silicon carbide and various post-treatment methods were studied to analyze their effect on the resulting materials properties (porosity, structure). Subsequently, these carbon materials and their suitability for application in high energy and power energy storage devices were tested. The results showed, that silicon carbide, which is 10 to 60 times cheaper than other similar carbides used, can be processed by simple and relatively inexpensive synthesis methods into a suitable and efficient material for energy storage devices.