Advanced microwave-assisted production of hybrid electrodes for energy applications

Carbon nanotubes are one of the most prominent materials in research for creating electrodes for portable electronics. When coupled with metallic nanoparticles the performance of carbon nanotube electrodes can be dramatically improved. Microwave reduction is an extremely rapid method for producing carbon nanotube-metallic nanoparticle composites, however this technique has so far been limitied to carbon nanotube soot. An understanding of the microwave process and the interactions of metallic nanoparticles with carbon nanotubes has allowed us to extend this promising functionalisation route to pre-formed CNT elelctrode architectures. Nanoparticle reduction onto pre-formed architectures reduces metallic nanoparticle waste as particles are not formed where there is not sufficient porosity for electrochemical processes. A two-fold increase in capacitive response, stable over 500 cycles, was observed for these composites, with a maximum capacitance of 300F/g observed for a carbon Nanoweb electrode.