Electrospun Metal oxides for energy applications

Abstract

Nanotechnology is now providing new solutions and opportunities to ensure sustainable energy for the future. Due to their special shapes, compositions, chemical and physical properties, metal oxide nanomaterials are the focus of current research efforts in nanotechnology. One-dimentional (1D) nanostructures, such as nanofibers, nanorods, and nanotubes, have attracted significant attention, due to the interesting confinement effects and the structure-related properties. In particular, metal oxides with 1D nanostructures are considered to be promising candidates in the applications of energy conversion and storage devices, because of their high surface areas, porosities, and fast charge transport. Such 1D metal oxides can be fabricated by many techniques, including top-down synthesis and bottom-up synthesis. Among them, electrospinning is a particular simple, inexpensive technique, which allows fabrication of metal oxides and advanced functional materials on a large scale. The solar cells and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries based on the electrospun metal oxide nanofibers demonstrate higher photoelectric conversion efficiency, and show higher reversible capacity and electrochemical stability, respectively. This paper consists of two main sections categorized by the electrospun fabrication of metal oxides and their energy applications. After a brief description of the electrospinning process of metal oxides, we choose to focus on their major energy applications, including solar cells, Li-ion batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells. In addition, electrospun nanofibers used as piezoelectric and thermoelectric materials are also discussed. Finally, we conclude this review with some personal perspectives on their future research and developments. © Springer 2012.