Harnessing Supercapacitors for Sustainable Energy Storage: A Technical Overview and Critical Analysis

Abstract

The historic United Nations summit on 01st January 2016 adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and set the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Energy is a key part of the sustainable development agenda however the current renewable energy system faces several limitations like intermittency, grid integration challenges, and energy storage efficiency. Supercapacitor possesses high energy storage efficiency, high power density, and resource efficiency which enables them to contribute to different SDGs like promoting clean energy generation when integrated with renewable energy solutions (SDG 7), in industrial processes like water treatment plants it can energy efficiency reduce operational cost (SDG 6), it can also improve electric vehicle performance by improving energy efficiency and thereby contributing to SDG 11. Considering the different applications of supercapacitors in achieving sustainability, the current review article focuses on the importance of supercapacitors and their types. It also reviews different materials for electrodes and electrolytes and a note on future scope besides applications.