Supercapacitors composed of graphene and boron nitride layers: A first-principles study

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to model nanoscale supercapacitors with graphene and boron nitride layers, revealing higher capacitance than traditional materials and providing insights into their design and theoretical behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a first-principles model for graphene/boron nitride supercapacitors, highlighting their superior capacitance and differences from classical models.

Findings

Capacitance per unit mass exceeds traditional carbon-based supercapacitors.

Theoretical results differ significantly from classical Helmholtz model predictions.

Model supports fabrication of complex series/parallel graphene/BN structures.

Abstract

We propose a model for nanoscale supercapacitor consisting of two-dimensional insulating BN layers placed between two commensurate and metallic graphene layers. First-principles Density Functional calculations of structure optimized total energy and self-consistent field potential performed on these nanoscale capacitors for different levels of charging and different number of BN layers mark the values of capacitance per unit mass, which are larger than those measured values for the supercapacitors made from other carbon based materials. Our theoretical study also compares results obtained for the present nanoscale capacitor with those of classical Helmholtz model and reveals crucial differences. Our model allows the fabrication of series/parallel mixed combinations consisting of epitaxially grown, sequential and multiple graphene/BN sheets.