Preface

Over the past few decades, the requirement for renewable energy sources worldwide has gained remarkable research attention. Significant research has been carried out in renewable energy sources such as solar, geothermal, wind, and biofuels. Electrochemical energy storage devices such as supercapacitors, rechargeable batteries, etc., have also attracted the attention of and been reported by many researchers. This book extensively outlines “Green materials-based supercapacitors”, including their fundamental and industrial scale exploratory research. The contributed parts give the readers a complete report of the field of low-carbon supercapacitors, appropriate hypothetical standards of their structures to their execution, realization, and potential applications. It covers the latest system and green materials for preparing, developing, constructing, validating, and designing supercapacitors for commercial applications. The book sets out the components and performance-governing parameters of low-carbon supercapacitors, identifying their implementation’s challenges, trends, and limitations. This book on low-carbon supercapacitors is ideal for advanced undergraduates, postgraduate students and research scholars, and industry professionals working in sustainable energy, nanomaterials, material science, and the electronic and automobile industry for e-vehicles. Overall, this book is planned to be a reference book for researchers and scientists searching for new advancements in supercapacitors sciences and technology.

The book is structured into 18 chapters: Chapter 1 discusses the fundamentals of supercapacitors, their classification, and storage mechanisms. This is followed by a brief discussion of various electrode materials used among the different supercapacitor types and their corresponding synthesis and electrochemical progress. Chapter 2 deals with new prospectives for low-carbon supercapacitors as electrode materials and the selection of the correct separator, current collector, electrode, and electrolyte materials that are crucial to the overall performance of the supercapacitor applications. Chapter 3 deals with recent developments in the green synthesis of biomass-derived electrodes, electrolytes utilized in supercapacitors, and some special techniques providing practical means in developing sustainable supercapacitors. Chapter 4 illustrates the descriptive analysis of the fabrication of green supercapacitors. Chapter 5 deals with materials used in the construction of low-carbon supercapacitors. The electrode, electrolyte, binder, separator, and current collector constructing elements of supercapacitors are separately considered and the latest progress in using low-carbon materials is reviewed. Chapter 6 emphasizes (i) the broad concept of biopolymers, (ii) sources of biopolymers and their carbon conversion and application towards supercapacitors, (iii) various synthesis processes used to obtain biopolymer derived carbon, (iv) recent advantages in biopolymer derived carbon material towards supercapacitor electrode application, and (v) challenges and prospects with biopolymer derived carbon for green energy. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on green nanocomposites dedicated to ecofriendly supercapacitors. Chapter 9 describes the application of biodegradable electrode materials in energy storage device fabrication. Chapter 10 provides current advances in the growth of biomass-derived porous carbon-based electrode materials using agricultural and animal waste, emphasizing their electrochemical performance capability for high-performance supercapacitor applications. Chapter 11 illustrates recent developments in nature-inspired supercapacitor design, synthesis of nature-inspired active electrode materials, and replacement of rigid device components with their bioinspired soft and stretchable counterparts. Chapter 12 describes recent advances of portable and wearable supercapacitor devices to improve the electrochemical performance. Chapter 13 shows the importance of supercapacitors as energy-storing devices for transportation. Chapter 14 thoroughly analyzes recent developments, applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), and computational tools in building green supercapacitors for energy storage. Chapter 15 presents the advancements and the challenges of emerging applications based on green supercapacitors, specifically in energy storage, electronics, health care, and mobility. Chapter 16 discusses the use case of green supercapacitors in emerging automotive, renewable energy, medical, and electrical/electronic applications. Chapter 17 provides a comprehensive overview of the most important carbon-based green nanocomposite electrode materials, preparation, characterization techniques, and the effects these have on the final green nanocomposite structures. Chapter 18 deals with the benefits of incorporating nanomaterials in green products and processes that may bring challenges with them for environmental, health, and safety risks, ethical and social issues, as well as uncertainty concerning the market and consumer acceptance. The challenges lying in the development of green supercapacitors are also discussed.

Overall, this book is intended to be a reference guidebook for experts, researchers and scientists searching for new and modern development in green supercapacitor technology. The editors and authors are well-known researchers, scientists, and specialists from various universities and industry. We are delighted with all the authors for their outstanding and enthusiastic efforts in making this book possible. Thanks go to Katie Morrey, AMRSC (Commissioning Editor, Books) and Amina Headley (Editorial Assistant, Books) for their support and help during this project. Finally, we offer our sincere thanks to the Royal Society of Chemistry for publishing the book.

M. Basheer Ahamed

Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain

Kalim Deshmukh