Molecular crowding agents engineered to make bioinspired electrolytes for high-voltage aqueous supercapacitors
Mengke Peng,
Li Wang,
Longbin Li,
Zhongyou Peng,
Xiannong Tang,
Ting Hu,
Kai Yuan,
Yiwang Chen
Affiliations
Mengke Peng
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China
Li Wang
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China
Longbin Li
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China
Zhongyou Peng
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China
Xiannong Tang
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China
Ting Hu
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China
Kai Yuan
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China; Cortresponding authors.
Yiwang Chen
College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China; Institute of Advanced Scientific Research (iASR), Key Laboratory of Functional Small Molecules for Ministry of Education, Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Avenue, Nanchang, 330022, China; Cortresponding authors.
The development of low-cost and eco-friendly aqueous electrolytes with a wide voltage window is the key to achieving safe high energy density supercapacitors (SCs). In this work, a molecular crowding electrolyte is prepared by simulating the crowded environment in living cells. Ion transport in the molecular crowding electrolyte can be effectively improved via reducing the molecular weight of the crowding agent, polyethylene glycol (PEG). The results show that PEG with a molecular weight of 200 (PEG200) can significantly improve ionic conductivity while maintaining a wide voltage window. These advantages enable commercial activated carbon-based SCs to work at 2.5 V with high energy density, outstanding rate performance and good stability for more than 10,000 cycles. On this basis, three series of molecular crowding electrolytes using sodium perchlorate, lithium perchlorate, and sodium trifluoromethanesulfonate as salts are developed, demonstrating the versatility of PEG200 for wide-voltage aqueous electrolytes.
