Sustainable Materials for Electrochemcial Capacitors

16Polysaccharide Biomaterials for Electrochemical Applications

Neelam Srivastava* and Dipti Yadav

Department of Physics (MMV Section) Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

Abstract

Today’s lifestyle and energy devices are synonyms to each other hence for sustainable developments optimum use of renewable energy sources is the only way out. For better utilization of renewable energy resources, efficient energy storage systems are obligatory. Unfortunately, excessive and inefficient use of energy storage system leads to environmental threat because they add up to global chemical garbage. Hence scientific community is optimistic towards renewable chemicals to replace the synthetic chemical components in energy devices. When such alternate options are sought to reach the commercial level then the cost effectiveness and abundance become an inevitable component. Polysaccharides, being abundant, cost effective and being available in variety, have allured electrochemists for its application as electrolyte, electrode, binder, separator etc. Variety of polysaccharides such as cellulose and its derivatives, chitosan/chitin, starch, alginate, gum, pectin, etc., have been successfully explored. Polymer-in-salt-electrolytes (PISEs) have also been successfully developed using polysaccharides. PISEs are the polymer electrolytes where amount of salt is beyond certain threshold so that ion motion is decoupled from polymer segmental motion and hence in such systems possibility of achieving ...