High density mechanical energy storage with carbon nanothread bundle.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32312980.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-15807-7 and PMC identifier 7171126.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The excellent mechanical properties of carbon nanofibers bring promise for energy-related applications. Through in silico studies and continuum elasticity theory, here we show that the ultra-thin carbon nanothreads-based bundles exhibit a high mechanical energy storage density. Specifically, the gravimetric energy density is found to decrease with the number of filaments, with torsion and tension as the two dominant contributors. Due to the coupled stresses, the nanothread bundle experiences fracture before reaching the elastic limit of any individual deformation mode. Our results show that nanothread bundles have similar mechanical energy storage capacity compared to (10,10) carbon nanotube bundles, but possess their own advantages. For instance, the structure of the nanothread allows us to realize the full mechanical energy storage potential of its bundle structure through pure tension, with a gravimetric energy density of up to 1.76 MJ kg<sup>-1</sup>, which makes them appealing alternative building blocks for energy storage devices.