Reticulated TiO2-Modified Carbon Fiber Enabling as a Supercapacitor Electrode Material for Photoelectric Synergistic Charge Storage

Photoassisted energy storage is a promising approach to realizing the utilization of solar power, and the reasonable design of a photoassisted supercapacitor with photosensitive materials is one of the efficient ways to realize solar power conversion and storage. Herein, we design a photoassisted supercapacitor electrode (TiO2/CF) by integrating a photoelectrode (TiO2) and a capacitive electrode (CF) together, which achieves photoelectric synergistic charge storage. It is found that spherical TiO2 precursors will crash, expand, integrate, stretch, and tear, forming a reticulated structure. Reticulated TiO2 guarantees illumination, which can boost the utilization of solar power. The TiO2/CF electrode exhibits a considerable (1.9-fold) increase in capacitance performance under light conditions as compared to dark conditions. Furthermore, this TiO2/CF photoassisted supercapacitor electrode exhibits an excellent cycle stability of about 99.19% after 5000 cycles. Moreover, the enhancement mechanism is elaborated as follows: these high-energy photoelectrons will participate in charge transfer to increase the total energy of the process, thereby enhancing capacitance performance. In addition, these photoelectron-hole pairs act as additional charge carriers to favor charge accumulation. This work may offer new prospects for developing photoassisted energy supply systems for the utilization of solar power.

Automated summary

This study presents a photoassisted supercapacitor electrode that achieves photoelectric synergistic charge storage by integrating a photoelectrode and a capacitive electrode. The experimental results show that the capacitance performance of this electrode significantly increases under light conditions and exhibits excellent cycle stability. The enhancement mechanism is explained by the participation of high-energy photoelectrons in charge transfer, increasing the total energy of the process and favoring charge accumulation.