Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)

For decades, Canada has enjoyed a significant lead in clean energy conversion and storage technologies internationally. In 2014, Canada ranked sixth in the world for investment in new domestic clean energy generation
programs. In the global race to establish new and greener sources of energy, supercapacitors and micro-supercapacitors have been receiving considerable interest. Their applications in electric vehicles, backup power and mobile miniaturized electronic devices highlights their potential to become an important power source. However, the current high cost and relative low energy density is prohibiting and limiting any wider applications.

Thus, the main objectives for this 5-year proposed research program are the design and synthesis of next generation electrode and electrolyte materials, based on graphene quantum dots (GQDs), with a precise control of their compositions, surface functionalization, and fabrication for the development of high-performance supercapacitors and micro-supercapacitors with large energy and power densities as well as a long cycle life. GQDs have attracted attention recently for being applied in electrochemical energy systems that is not only due to the excellent performance of graphene, but also attributed to the quantum confinement and edge effects. In the proposed research, four main tasks will be followed and correlated to each other in order to fully achieve the objectives of this program. First, various chemical methods will be employed to control and scale up of the production of GQDs and the derivatives. In the second task, molecular functionalization will be performed on GQDs to be used as high performance electrodes; Thirdly in task 3, some amount of effort will be devoted to develop GQDs based solid electrolytes; In task 4, the distinct surface, electronic and structural properties and electrochemical performance of the synthesized GQDs in Task 1, 2 and 3 will be investigated by several physicochemical and electrochemical characterization techniques. Finally, in Task 5 conventional and miniaturized supercapacitors will be fabricated from optimized GQD-based electrodes and electrolytes and their practical performance will be tested and correlated to Task 3 for further optimization.

It is expected that the results of the proposed research will provide a potential breakthrough needed in the effort to make supercapacitor systems a commercially viable technology through performance improvement, including durability, and energy storage efficiency. The success of the proposed research and training of HQPs will contribute to the highly needed technology and business activities and enterprises of Canadian clean energy and nanotechnology industries, so Canada will remain an international leader in these two fast paced emerging technologies, thus contributing to the development of a knowledge-based Canadian economy.