Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Adv Mater. 2019 Mar;31(9):e1800680. doi: 10.1002/adma.201800680. Epub 2018 Oct 25.
Energy storage in a proper form is an important way to meet the fast increase in the demand for energy. Among the strategies for storing energy, storage of mechanical energy via suitable media is widely utilized by human beings. With a tensile strength over 100 GPa, and a Young's modulus over 1 TPa, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered as one of the strongest materials ever found and exhibit overwhelming advantages for storing mechanical energy. For example, the tensile-strain energy density of CNTs is as high as 1125 Wh kg . In addition, CNTs also exhibit great potential for fabricating flywheels to store kinetic energy with both high energy density (8571 Wh kg ) and high power density (2 MW kg to 2 GW kg ). Here, an overview of some typical mechanical-energy-storage systems and materials is given. Then, theoretical and experimental studies on the mechanical properties of CNTs and CNT assemblies are introduced. Afterward, the strategies for utilizing CNTs to store mechanical energy are discussed. In addition, macroscale production of CNTs is summarized. Finally, future trends and prospects in the development of CNTs used as mechanical-energy-storage materials are presented.
在适当的形式下存储能量是满足能源需求快速增长的重要途径。在储能策略中，通过合适的介质储存机械能被人类广泛应用。碳纳米管（CNTs）具有超过 100GPa 的拉伸强度和超过 1TPa 的杨氏模量，被认为是迄今为止发现的最强材料之一，在储存机械能方面具有压倒性的优势。例如，CNTs 的拉伸应变储能密度高达 1125Whkg。此外，CNTs 还具有很大的潜力用于制造飞轮来储存动能，具有高能量密度（8571Whkg）和高功率密度（2MWkg 至 2GWkg）。在这里，我们概述了一些典型的机械能存储系统和材料。然后，介绍了 CNTs 及其组装体的力学性能的理论和实验研究。随后，讨论了利用 CNTs 储存机械能的策略。此外，总结了 CNTs 的宏观生产。最后，提出了 CNT 作为机械能存储材料的未来发展趋势和前景。
