The main objective of the project is the development of coal liquids-based carbon materials (activated carbons, graphenes and composites) with superior properties for their use as electrodes in electrochemical energy storage devices such as supercapacitors (SCs) and hybrid systems.

With this aim, the following points will be addressed:

¨  Production of optimized coal-liquids based carbon precursors by conventional and unconventional technologies.

¨ Study of the parameters involved in the synthesis of polymerized isotropic and mesophase pitches and an evaluation of their influence on the properties of these precursors.

¨ Synthesis and preliminary characterization of activated carbons (ACs) and selection of the most promising for use as electrodes in the energy storage devices under study. Evaluation of the influence of the synthesis processes on their characteristics.

¨ Synthesis of graphenes (Gs) by different routes: optimization of the thermal exfoliation/reduction of graphite oxides and graphene oxides and development of a new alternative based on the direct exfoliation of graphites by supercritical fluids. Preliminary characterization of the graphenes obtained.

¨ Design of activated carbon/graphene composites as new electrode materials.

¨ Investigation of the suitability of the synthesized carbon materials as electrodes in SCs and a new battery-capacitor device with improved energy and power density values.

¨ Establishment of the relationships between the processing conditions of the coal-derived liquids and the properties of the final carbon materials by means of their advanced characterization.