Machine learning-based prediction and evaluation of supercapacitor performance of transition metal carbide developed by using waste surgical masks during COVID-19

Ziel

Fossil-free and renewable energy sources are a must for a sustainable society. Pushing the limitation of supercapacitors (SC) beyond their limits by producing metal carbides using as carbon source spent surgical masks, an immense side-product burden of COVID-19 pandemic, MESTUM project aims to tackle the worldwide increasing energy demand with highly efficient, stable, environmentally friendly and low-cost electrode materials (EM). The development of EM by transition metal carbides has attracted significant research attention thanks to its high-temperature stability, conductivity, easy operation in aqueous/organic electrolytes and insignificant electrolyte leaching. Easily accessible and abundant, manganese metal carbides, with multiple electron transfer ability, represent an excellent source possessing the key performance markers for SC: Ground-breaking pseudocapacitance and cyclic stability. By exploring the challenge of also generating a porous structure, MESTUM aims to expand an electrochemically active specific surface area and porosity of transition metal carbide and thus deliver a significant growth of specific capacity performance. During synthesis, the ground-breaking approach of turning the porous carbon from the surgical mask into the transition metal structure will orchestrate a brilliant coupling of increasing the surface area and reducing surgical mask waste. For machine learning prediction of specific capacity and cyclic stability, the two most critical performance-related features of SC, the materials properties (morphology, composition, surface area, etc.) and operational conditions (electrolytes, current density, potential window, etc.), are crucial. To tackle this issue, the project will set the optimized parameters to easily evaluate the prospects of developed materials in SC application. By a pioneering effort toward the significant advancement of SC technologies, the MESTUM project will address a fundamental need for clean energy sources.