Sagar Kumar Pal

Energy is a primary need of global economy, and its demand is a significant indicator of expansion and growth of the economy. Energy systems have evolved over time due to technical ad-vancements, environmental concerns and cost apprehensions. Although fossil fuels still remain a major source of energy supply, significant strides have been made into new innovative and high-performance energy storage technologies. The focus has always been on improving the performance of the energy systems using novel Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which is considered an im-portant choice. The CNTs are made using our proprietary novel process conditions employing highly active nano catalyst and low value refinery feed streams, by exploiting the advantage of invariably available intrinsic heteroatom molecules in the feedstock. The process is economical-ly attractive and easily scalable as it leads to highest CNT yields per quantity of the catalyst. CNTs made from our unique process displays robust mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. These properties make them integral part of energy storage domain. Presently, CNTs have been employed extensively for use in supercapacitors and batteries devices employed across a spectrum of applications requiring both high power and high energy outputs. Applications of CNTs in various battery chemistry were explored. CNTs in dispersed and dry state were used to compare the performance with control lead acid battery & Li-ion chemistry. Further functionalized CNTs were also tested to understand the impact of CNT functionalization in lead acid & Li-ion battery. Significant improvements were observed in the battery performance in terms of charge acceptance, high-rate discharge and cycle life. Additionally, CNTs were used in the Air-electrode of Aluminum & Zn-air battery and performance was compared with conventional carbon black based Air electrodes. Various parameters such as discharge voltage, current density and specific energy were compared. In summary, applications of CNTs extensively explored in various energy storage systems and its effect on performance is studied. Further, the benefits and cost analysis by CNTs addition carried out with feasibility at large scale applications is explored.