A Brief Review on the Influence of Nanomaterials on Supercapacitor Configurations and Performance

Abstract

Energy storage devices have been made and developed over hundreds of years in order
to power many real-life applications and store energy for when it is not easily accessible.
Recently, due to advancements in nanotechnology, supercapacitors, which differ from traditional
capacitors and batteries, have become an excellent middle-ground device. These nanomaterials
impact how the supercapacitor performs in various metrics, including capacitance, energy
density, and power density, which are essential when considering the context in which they will
be used. It follows that the specific groups of nanomaterials used in these experiments,
including metal oxides, carbon and graphene, and even a mix of the two groups, impact these
properties even more than just the existence of nanomaterials. The chemistry behind how
energy is stored and how electric fields are created differs between different types of
supercapacitors, including electrostatic storage, electrochemical reactions, and a combination of
both between the two plates, which has different effects on the aforementioned metrics. While
many efforts have successfully improved performances over time, cycle stability and the cost of
the materials continue to be pertinent problems that are still being tackled.