Carbon Nanohorns in Energy Storage Applications
Summary
Carbon nanohorns are conical aggregates of single‐walled carbon structures that combine high purity, thermal stability and a hierarchical pore network. Their characteristic horn‐shaped tips and internal mesopores confer exceptionally large accessible surface areas and rapid ion transport pathways, making them ideal candidates for advanced energy storage systems. In supercapacitors, carbon nanohorns can deliver high power densities and long cycle lives by virtue of their tunable porosity and surface chemistry. In battery electrodes, their open framework and conductive network facilitate fast charge–discharge kinetics and enhanced active‐material utilisation. Chemical functionalisation and heteroatom doping further modulate electronic properties, wettability and redox activity, broadening practical applications from electric vehicles to grid stabilisation. Recent efforts have focused on scalable synthetic routes, composite integration with pseudocapacitive materials and three‐dimensional architectures to optimise energy and power performance. Collectively, these advances underline the global significance of carbon nanohorns as a versatile platform for next‐generation energy storage devices.
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Carbon Nanohorns in Energy Storage Applications publication trend
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Technical terms
Carbon nanohorns: Conical, horn‐shaped aggregates of single‐walled carbon tubes that present high surface area and hierarchical porosity.
Supercapacitor: An electrochemical device that stores energy through ion adsorption and surface redox reactions, offering high power density and long cycle life.
Specific surface area: The total surface area of a material per unit mass, critical for maximising electrode–electrolyte interaction.
Heteroatom doping: Incorporation of non‐carbon atoms (e.g. oxygen, sulfur) into the carbon lattice to tailor electronic and chemical properties.
Langmuir–Schaefer film: A monolayer deposition technique that transfers an organised molecular layer from the air–water interface onto a solid substrate.
References
- Asymmetric Carbon Nanohorn Enabled Soft Capacitors with High Power Density and Ultra‐Low Cutoff Frequency. Advanced Materials Technologies (2020).
- Single-Walled Carbon Nanohorns for Energy Applications. Nanomaterials (2015).
- High-Surface-Area Graphene Oxide for Next-Generation Energy Storage Applications. ACS Applied Nano Materials (2022).
- Single-Wall Carbon Nanohorn Langmuir–Schaefer Films. Langmuir (2023).
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