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Polymers
Special Issues
Recent Progress on Polymer Electrolytes for Solar Cells and Supercapacitors
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Recent Progress on Polymer Electrolytes for Solar Cells and Supercapacitors

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 10031

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Javed Iqbal

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Guest Editor
Center of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Interests: energy storage devices; solar cells; supercapacitors; composite materials; conducting polymers; nanomaterials
Dr. Shaid Bashir

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Ionics Universiti Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Interests: supercapacitors; batteries; solar cells; materials chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The depletion of fossil fuels, global warming and environmental concerns have brought renewable energy resources to the limelight. Contrary to fossil fuels, energy harvesting from renewable resources such as sunlight is the prime focus in the present era, which aims to be pollution free. The clean energy from sunlight is harvested through solar cell technology. However, so far, solar cells’ performance is low. Scientists are working on different parameters, and polymer electrolytes play a pivotal role in increasing their efficiencies. Even though there are number of research reports available on polymer electrolytes, there is a lack of development and selection. Energy storage is also a challenge. Electrochemical energy storage systems such as supercapacitors are quite popular, but modern research focuses on increasing their charge storage capacity because weather conditions and day–night cycles tend to affect energy harvesting systems. However, to ensure uninterrupted power supply, highly efficient supercapacitors should be integrated in these systems. The role of electrolytes, especially polymer electrolytes, greatly influences the performance of solar cells and supercapacitors.  Therefore, substantial improvements and investigations are needed in this area of research to develop new polymer-based electrolytes which could be utilized to improve the efficiency of solar cells and supercapacitors.  

This Special Issue aims to promote and attract the recent advances in polymer electrolytes, and to discuss their synthesis, performance and stability studies in solar cells and supercapacitors. Review articles and original research papers on areas including but not limited to the following are welcome:

  • Polymer and composite polymer electrolytes: fundamentals, synthesis and their characterization for renewable energy resources;
  • Polymer-electrolyte-based solar cells;
  • Polymer electrolytes for supercapacitors.

Composite polymer electrolytes for energy harvesting and energy storage devices. 

Dr. Javed Iqbal
Dr. Shaid Bashir
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 6072 KiB  
Article
Poly (Vinyl Alcohol)/Agar Hydrogel Electrolytes Based Flexible All-in-One Supercapacitors with Conducting Polyaniline/Polypyrrole Electrodes
by Khadija Hasan, Shahid Bashir, Ramesh Subramaniam, Ramesh Kasi, Kashif Kamran, Javed Iqbal, Hamed Algarni, Abdullah G. Al-Sehemi, S. Wageh, M. Pershaanaa and Fathiah Kamarulazam
Polymers 2022, 14(21), 4784; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14214784 - 07 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2285
Abstract
The major components of supercapacitor are electrodes and electrolytes which are fabricated using various materials and methods. Hydrogel is one such material that is used in supercapacitors as electrodes and electrolytes or both. Hydrogels are usually described as a soft and porous network [...] Read more.
The major components of supercapacitor are electrodes and electrolytes which are fabricated using various materials and methods. Hydrogel is one such material that is used in supercapacitors as electrodes and electrolytes or both. Hydrogels are usually described as a soft and porous network of polymer materials that can swell in water because of the hydrophilic nature of its polymer chains, compriseng a 3D structure. It is well known that supercapacitors possess high-power density but low energy density. For enhancing energy density of these electrochemical cells and a boost in its electrochemical performance and specific capacity, binder free conducting polymer hydrogel electrodes have gained immense attention, especially polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy). Therefore, in this work, chemically crosslinked PVA/Agar hydrogel electrolytes have been prepared and employed. Agar has been added in PVA since it is environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and cost-effective natural polymer. Subsequently, the binder free polyaniline/polypyrrole electrodes were grown on the PVA/Agar hydrogel electrolytes to fabricate all-in-one flexible hydrogels. The synthesized hydrogels were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and mechanical studies. Then, the all-in-one flexible supercapacitors were fabricated using the hydrogels. The electrochemical studies such cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanic charge discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies. The fabricated all-in-one lamination free supercapacitors showed promising results and by comparing all four samples, PAP2 where 5 mL of PVA was used in combination with 3 mL of Agar and 5 mL of PANI and PPy each, exhibited the highest areal capacitance of 750.13 mF/cm2, energy density of 103.02 μWh/cm2, and 497.22 μW/cm2 power density. The cyclic stability study revealed the 149% capacity retention after 15,000 cycles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress on Polymer Electrolytes for Solar Cells and Supercapacitors)
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19 pages, 3853 KiB  
Article
Electrochemical Performance of Biopolymer-Based Hydrogel Electrolyte for Supercapacitors with Eco-Friendly Binders
by Giovanni Landi, Luca La Notte, Alessandro Lorenzo Palma and Giovanni Puglisi
Polymers 2022, 14(20), 4445; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14204445 - 20 Oct 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2239
Abstract
An environmentally friendly hydrogel based on gelatin has been investigated as a gel polymer electrolyte in a symmetric carbon-based supercapacitor. To guarantee the complete sustainability of the devices, biomaterials from renewable resources (such as chitosan, casein and carboxymethyl cellulose) and activated carbon (from [...] Read more.
An environmentally friendly hydrogel based on gelatin has been investigated as a gel polymer electrolyte in a symmetric carbon-based supercapacitor. To guarantee the complete sustainability of the devices, biomaterials from renewable resources (such as chitosan, casein and carboxymethyl cellulose) and activated carbon (from coconut shells) have been used as a binder and filler within the electrode, respectively. The electrochemical properties of the devices have been compared by using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge curves and impedance spectroscopy. Compared to the liquid electrolyte, the hydrogel supercapacitors show similar energy performance with an enhancement of stability up to 12,000 cycles (e.g., chitosan as a binder). The most performant device can deliver ca. 5.2 Wh/kg of energy at a high power density of 1256 W/kg. A correlation between the electrochemical performances and charge storage mechanisms (involving faradaic and non-faradaic processes) at the interface electrode/hydrogel has been discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress on Polymer Electrolytes for Solar Cells and Supercapacitors)
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13 pages, 3014 KiB  
Article
Effect of Polyethylene Glycol and Activated Carbon Macroparticles on Thermal Conductivity of Paraffin Wax for Thermal Storage Applications
by Lwin Phone Myat, Muhammad Shakeel Ahmad, Indra Neel Pulidindi, Hamed Algarni, Laveet Kumar, Abul Kalam, S. Wageh, Adarsh Kumar Pandey, Altaf Akbar and Jeyraj Selvaraj
Polymers 2022, 14(19), 4181; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14194181 - 05 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1658
Abstract
Low thermal conductivity is the major obstacle for the wide range utilization of phase change materials (PCMs), especially organic PCMs, for most practical applications in thermal engineering. This study investigates the potential of enhancing the charging and discharging rates of organic PCM (RT44HC) [...] Read more.
Low thermal conductivity is the major obstacle for the wide range utilization of phase change materials (PCMs), especially organic PCMs, for most practical applications in thermal engineering. This study investigates the potential of enhancing the charging and discharging rates of organic PCM (RT44HC) by introducing polyethylene glycol (PEG) and activated carbon macroparticles (ACMPs). Different concentrations of PEG and ACMPs ranging from 0.3 wt% to 2 wt% were tested separately. The optimized concentrations found were used as dual reinforcements to attain the highest possible thermal conductivity. The specimens were tested for a complete charging–discharging cycle using an improvised thermal apparatus. Use of ACMP alone resulted in a minimal reduction in complete charging–discharging time due to the settlement of ACMPs at the bottom after 2–3 heating–cooling cycles. However, the addition of PEG with ACMPs exhibited a reduction in charging–discharging time due to the formation of a stable dispersion. PEG served as a stabilizing agent for ACMPs. The lowest charging–discharging time of 180 min was exhibited by specimens containing 1 wt% PEG and 0.5 wt% ACMPs which is 25% lower compared to bare PCM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress on Polymer Electrolytes for Solar Cells and Supercapacitors)
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13 pages, 3238 KiB  
Article
Hydroxyl-Functionalized Covalent Organic Frameworks as High-Performance Supercapacitors
by Tzu-Ling Yang, Jhu-You Chen, Shiao-Wei Kuo, Chen-Tsyr Lo and Ahmed F. M. El-Mahdy
Polymers 2022, 14(16), 3428; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14163428 - 22 Aug 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1973
Abstract
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have attracted significant interest because of their heteroatom-containing architectures, high porous networks, large surface areas, and capacity to include redox-active units, which can provide good electrochemical efficiency in energy applications. In this research, we synthesized two novel hydroxy-functionalized COFs—TAPT-2,3-NA(OH) [...] Read more.
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have attracted significant interest because of their heteroatom-containing architectures, high porous networks, large surface areas, and capacity to include redox-active units, which can provide good electrochemical efficiency in energy applications. In this research, we synthesized two novel hydroxy-functionalized COFs—TAPT-2,3-NA(OH)2, TAPT-2,6-NA(OH)2 COFs—through Schiff-base [3 + 2] polycondensations of 1,3,5-tris-(4-aminophenyl)triazine (TAPT-3NH2) with 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dicarbaldehyde (2,3-NADC) and 2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene-1,5-dicarbaldehyde (2,6-NADC), respectively. The resultant hydroxy-functionalized COFs featured high BET-specific surface areas up to 1089 m2 g–1, excellent crystallinity, and superior thermal stability up to 60.44% char yield. When used as supercapacitor electrodes, the hydroxy-functionalized COFs exhibited electrochemical redox activity due to the presence of redox-active 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene and 2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene in their COF skeletons. The hydroxy-functionalized COFs showed specific capacitance of 271 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 with excellent stability after 2000 cycles of 86.5% capacitance retention. Well-known pore features and high surface areas of such COFs, together with their superior supercapacitor performance, make them suitable electrode materials for use in practical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress on Polymer Electrolytes for Solar Cells and Supercapacitors)
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10 pages, 4488 KiB  
Article
Advanced Characterization of Ceramic State Polymer Electrolyte at Radio Frequencies
by Wei Quan and Mohammed Nurul Afsar
Polymers 2022, 14(16), 3345; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14163345 - 17 Aug 2022
Viewed by 921
Abstract
Two newly developed non-contact dielectric measurement techniques were applied to characterize the complex permittivity spectra of a ceramic state polymer electrolyte. The Capacitance Bridge was employed to measure the electrolyte sample in a frequency range from 50 Hz to 20 KHz with a [...] Read more.
Two newly developed non-contact dielectric measurement techniques were applied to characterize the complex permittivity spectra of a ceramic state polymer electrolyte. The Capacitance Bridge was employed to measure the electrolyte sample in a frequency range from 50 Hz to 20 KHz with a novel air gap method. The newly designed in-waveguide measurement by VNA (vector network analyzer) was applied to measure the electrolyte in the frequency range from 8.2 GHz to 40 GHz. Both methods are newly developed non-contact techniques and there was no physical contact on the polymer sample film surface during the measurement. The weak contact error in traditional measurement could be completely avoided in these non-contact methods. The ionic conductivity and complex electrical conductivity can be derived from the accurate complex dielectric spectra. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress on Polymer Electrolytes for Solar Cells and Supercapacitors)
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