 |
| Rus |  |
Eng |  |
This new technology, dubbed the “electrochemical flow capacitor,” stores energy in the same way as a supercapacitor, but is much less costly to scale up for large, industrial applications. Results from the team’s most recent study were published in a special issue of Advanced Energy Materials ("The Electrochemical Flow Capacitor: A New Concept for Rapid Energy Storage and Recovery") focusing on next-generation batteries.
The electrochemical flow capacitor uses a flow cell architecture, similar to existing redox flow batteries for grid storage, consisting of an electrochemical cell connected to external electrolyte reservoirs. However, this technology is unique in that it uses a flowable slurry of capacitive particles suspended in a liquid electrolyte carrier fluid. Uncharged slurry is pumped through a flow cell, where energy is stored capacitively within the solid particles.The charged slurry can then be held in reservoirs until the energy is needed, at which time the entire process is reversed. By utilizing this capacitive slurry instead of conventional battery electroly tes, the Drexel team says that its new design can be operated in high power applications for hundreds of thousands of charge-discharge cycles, vital for industrial applications
llustration by Kristy Jost, PhD student of Materials Science and Engineering.
“It is well known that conventional supercapacitors provide very high power output with minimal degradation in performance. However, they have always had fairly limited energy storage capacity”, said Dr. Yury Gogotsi, distinguished university professor and Trustee Chair of Materials Science and Engineering and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute at Drexel University, one of the lead scientists on the project. “By incorporating the active material of supercapacitors into a fluid, we are able to address issues of capacity and scalability by adopting the system architecture from redox flow batteries”.
Dr. E. C. Kumbur, Director of the Electrochemical Energy Systems Laboratory at Drexel states: “Flow battery architecture is very attractive for grid-scale applications because it allows for scalable energy storage by decoupling the power and energy storage.” In flow battery systems, as well as the electrochemical flow capacitor, the energy storage capacity is determined by the size of the reservoirs which store the charged material. If a larger capacity is desired, the tanks can simply be scaled up in size. Similarly, the power output of the system is controlled by the size of the electrochemical cell, with larger cells producing more power.
“Slow response rate is a common problem for most energy storage systems. Incorporating the rapid charging and discharging ability of supercapacitors into this architecture is a major advantage to effectively store the fluctuating energy sources and deliver the energy rapidly as needed,” Kumbur said. “Electrical energy storage is the bottleneck for more widespread implementation of renewable energy sources like wind and solar,” said Dr. Volker Presser, Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel. “We believe that this new technology has important applications in that field. Moreover, these technologies can also be used to enhance the efficiency of existing power sources, and improve the stability of the grid.”
The team’s ongoing work is focused on developing new slurry compositions based on different carbon nanomaterials and electrolytes, as well as optimizing their flow capacitor design.
“We have observed very promising performance so far, but this is by no means the upper limit of this technology,” Gogotsi said. The team is also designing a small demonstration prototype to illustrate the fundamental operation of the system. Materials Research Centre also participates in development of the pilot device with flow electrochemical capacitor.
Source: Drexel University
MXenes potential applications include sensors, wound healing materials, and drug delivery systems. A recent study explored how different synthesis methods affect the safety and performance of MXenes. By comparing etching conditions and intercalation strategies, researchers discovered that fine-tuning the surface chemistry of MXenes plays a crucial role in improving biocompatibility. These results provide practical guidelines for developing safer MXenes and bring the field one step closer to real biomedical applications.
Exellent news, our joint patent application with Drexel University on highly porous MAX phase precursor for MXene synthesis published. Congratulations and thanks to all team involved!
Last Call! Have you submitted your abstract for IEEE NAP-2025 yet? Join us at the International Symposium on "The MXene Frontier: Transformative Nanomaterials Shaping the Future" – the largest MXene-focused conference in Europe this year! Final Submission Deadline: May 15, 2025. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to showcase your research and engage with world leaders in the MXene field!
We are excited to announce the publication of latest review article on MXenes in Healthcare. This comprehensive review explores the groundbreaking role of MXenes—an emerging class of 2D materials—in revolutionizing the fields of medical diagnostics and therapeutics. Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4NR04853A.
Congratulations and thank you to our collaborators from TU Wien and CEST for very interesting work and making it published! In this work, an upscalable electrochemical MXene synthesis is presented. Yields of up to 60% electrochemical MXene (EC-MXene) with no byproducts from a single exfoliation cycle are achieved.
Congratulations to all collaborators with this interesting joint work!
Thank you to our collaborators for the amazing joint work recently published in Graphene and 2D Nanomaterials about MXene–silk fibroin composite films aiming to develop materials with tunable electronic and thermal properties
Dr. Oleksiy Gogotsi, director of MRC and Carbon-Ukraine, innovative companies that are among the leaders on the world MXene market, visited 2024 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit. together with Dr. Maksym Pogorielov, Head of Advanced Biomaterials and Biophysics Laboratory, University of Latvia.
MRC and Carbon-Ukraine team visited the 3rd International MXene conference held at Drexel University on August 5-8, 2024. Conference brought together the best reserchers and leading experts on MXene field. 
Together with colleagues from the University of Latvia, MRC/Carbone Ukraine, Adam Mickiewicz University, University Clinic Essen, and others, we have developed a novel concept involving the binding of antibodies to MXenes. In our research, we utilized anti-CEACAM1 antibodies to develop targeted photo-thermal therapy for melanoma (in vitro), paving the way for future in vivo studies and clinical trials. For the first time, we demonstrate the feasibility of delivering MXenes specifically targeted to melanoma cells, enabling the effective ablation of cancer cells under near-infrared (NIR) light. This new technique opens up vast potential for the application of MXenes in cancer treatment, diagnostics, drug delivery, and many other medical purposes.
