Chem. Rev., 2015, 115 (11), pp 5159–5223

   DOI: 10.1021/cr5006217

Publication Date (Web): May 19, 2015

Wood fuel was the main energy source before the 18th century, and then coal started to dominate the energy component since the invention of steam engine in the industrial revolution. By the 1970s, electrical energy replaced coal with the appearance of the steam engine, and fossil oil became the main energy source in the world. Obviously, carbon materials always play a significant role at the energy field in human history. However, the use of carbon-material-based energy will cause the release of a lot of carbon dioxide, which results in an undesired greenhouse effect. In addition, carbon materials such as coal and fossil oil are nonrenewable. Will carbon materials quit the stage of energy history?

The answer is “no”. During the past half century, renewable and green energy technologies (i.e., solar cells, fuel cells, and lithium ion batteries, LIBs) have been developed with the use of carbon nanomaterials including fullerene, carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, and porous carbon due to their remarkable mechanical, electrical, catalytic, optical, and thermal properties. More specifically, fullerene derivatives are still the best electron acceptor in polymer solar cells (PSCs); CNT and graphene are promising candidates of the next-generation of transparent conductive films in solar cells, and they also exhibit high electrochemical performances in LIBs and supercapacitors. Porous carbon has also been broadly used as catalyst supports and filters in many energy devices. Therefore, carbon materials continue to play a critical role in the energy field.

In fact, there already exist some review articles that focus on different aspects on the application of carbon nanomaterials for energy in early years.Here we present a comprehensive review on the advancement of carbon nanomaterials for energy applications in recent years. The synthesis and properties of four widely explored carbon nanomaterials, i.e., fullerene, CNTs, graphene, and porous carbon, are systematically described. Their promising applications in both energy conversion and storage including solar cells, LIBs, and supercapacitors as well as their integrations are then carefully investigated with an emphasis on the flexible devices, particularly, the recent emergence of lightweight and wearable fiber-shaped devices. The remaining challenges and main developing directions are finally highlighted.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cr5006217