Electrochemical and structural investigations of oxide films anodically formed on ruthenium-plated titanium electrodes in sulfuric acid

The electrochemical characteristics of ruthenium oxides, formed on Ru-plated Ti electrodes in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ by potential cycling with different CV upper potential limits (E _SU), were systematically compared. The repeated potential cycling between 0.2 and 0.75 V activated the formation/reduction of surface Ru oxides with hysteretic behavior. This application of repeated CVs also modified the ability of Ru deposits for hydrogen adsorption/desorption. An irreducible Ru oxide accumulated on the electrode at potentials more positive than ca. 0.95 V, whose capacitive characteristics are applicable for electrochemical supercapacitors. This irreducible oxide was composed of an aggregate consisting of Ru in various oxidation states, bridged oxygen, OH and water in a 3D-like structure with a relatively ordered and compact nature, from the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic and voltammetric results. The surface reconstruction of the Ru deposits induced by the repeated potential cycling with E _SU≥0.75 V was clearly observed from the SEM photographs. From the X-ray diffraction patterns, all the anodically formed Ru oxides showed an amorphous nature.     

NiCo_2S_4六角片作为钠离子电池负极材料的电化学性能及储钠动力学

通过共沉淀以及后续的气相硫化成功制备了横向边长约为2μm,纵向厚度约为30 nm的NiCo_2S_4六角片,并研究了其作为钠离子电池负极材料的电化学性能。电化学性能测试结果显示在1000 mA·g~(-1)的电流密度下,NiCo_2S_4电极循环60次后仍然可保持约387mAh·g~(-1)的可逆比容量。此外,NiCo_2S_4电极还具有良好的倍率性能,在200、400、800、1000和2000mA·g~(-1)的电流密度下,容量分别为542、398、347、300和217mAh·g~(-1)。通过进一步动力学机制分析发现,NiCo_2S_4电极的良好的倍率性能得益于其二维片层状结构诱导产生的赝电容。上述结果表明,NiCo_2S_4纳米六角片是一种极具潜力的钠离子电池负极材料。     

MnO2超级电容器充放电过程研究

采用机械化学法,在高锰酸钾和乙酸锰摩尔配比为1/1的条件下制备了弱结晶性α-MnO2。采用循环伏安、交流阻抗等方法对MnO2电极进行测试;对MnO2超级电容器在6mol/L KOH溶液中以1.2V放电窗口、200mA/g电流密度下进行充放电过程研究。结果表明,超级电容器在低电位范围表现出双电层电容,在高电位范围表现为法拉第假电容;Mn3O4电化学惰性物质主要在初始40次充放电过程中生成,其使循环伏安图中氧化还原峰逐渐消失、高电位法拉第假电容逐渐减小、放电曲线逐渐接近直线,表现为双电层电容特征。电极最大比容量为416F/g,200次循环后为240F/g,等效串联电阻由17Ω逐渐增到41Ω。     

Synthesis and electrochemical characterization of carbon nanotubes decorated with nickel nanoparticles for use as an electrochemical capacitor

Attachment of nickel nanoparticles on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was conducted to explore the influence of Ni loading on the electrochemical capacitance of MWCNT electrodes. A chemical impregnation leaded to homogeneously disperse Ni particles onto the surface of MWCNTs, and the Ni particles were found to be an average size of 30–50 nm. The capacitive behavior of the MWCNT electrodes was investigated in 6 M KOH, by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), charge–discharge cycling, and ac electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. CV measurements showed that the Faradaic current was found to increase with the Ni coverage, indicating that the presence of Ni would enhance the pseudocapacitance through the redox process. Equivalent circuit analysis indicated that both of electrical connection and charge transfer resistances accounted for the major proportion of the overall resistance and were found to decrease with the amount of nickel. A linearity relationship between the total capacitance and the Ni population reflected that each Ni particle exhibits an identical electrochemical activity in enhancing the electrochemical capacitance. The overall electrochemical capacitance (including double layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance) of Ni-MWCNT electrode can reach a maximum of 210 F/g over 500 cycles.     

The effect of ultrasonic and HNO3 treatment of activated carbon from fruit stones on capacitive and pseudocapacitive energy storage in electrochemical supercapacitors

The effect of ultrasonic treatment and modification with nitric acid of activated carbon obtained from fruit stones, on the parameters of electric double-layer (EDL) as well as on farad–volt characteristics of its boundary with electrolyte 7.6 m KОН, 4 m KI and 2 m ZnI₂ aqueous solutions has been studied by means of precision porometry, cyclic voltamperometry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and computer simulation methods. It is shown that HNO₃ treatment results in an increase of the electrostatic capacitance up to 202 F/g in 7.6 m KОН-solution as well as pseudocapacitance up to 1250 F/g in 4 m KI. This increase is supposed to be related both with hydrophilicity and with an increase of the density of states on Fermi level. The ultrasonic treatment enables one to significantly increase (more than 200 times) the density of states on Fermi level which in turn causes both quantitative and qualitative changes in farad–volt dependences. A hybrid supercapacitor with specific capacitance of 1100 F/g and specific energy of 49 Wh/kg per active mass of two electrodes was developed.     

Electrochemical properties of Mn-doped activated carbon aerogel as electrode material for supercapacitor

Carbon aerogel (CA) was prepared by a sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol and formaldehyde, and it was activated with KOH to obtain activated carbon aerogel (ACA). Specific capacitance of carbon aerogel and activated carbon aerogel was measured by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge methods in 6 M KOH electrolyte. Activated carbon aerogel showed higher specific capacitance than carbon aerogel (136 F/g vs. 90 F/g). In order to combine excellent electrochemical performance of activated carbon aerogel with pseudocapacitive property of manganese oxide, 7 wt% manganese oxide was doped on activated carbon aerogel by an incipient wetness impregnation method. For comparison, 7 wt% manganese oxide was also doped on carbon aerogel by an incipient wetness impregnation method. It was revealed that 7 wt% Mn-doped activated carbon aerogel (Mn/ACA) showed higher specific capacitance than 7 wt% Mn-doped carbon aerogel (Mn/CA) (168 F/g vs. 98 F/g). The enhanced capacitance of 7 wt% Mn-doped activated carbon aerogel was attributed to the outstanding electric properties of activated carbon aerogel as well as the faradaic redox reactions of manganese oxide.     

石墨烯氧化程度对Ni(OH)2赝电容性能的影响

基于密度泛函理论(DFT)设计了一系列不同氧化程度的还原氧化石墨烯片(rGNOs)并研究了其表面的氧化缺陷与吸附的氢氧化镍(Ni(OH)₂)之间的相互作用. 结果发现,rGNOs表面的含氧基团与Ni(OH)₂之间的吸附能与含氧基团的氧化程度相关. 在吸附Ni(OH)₂后,rGNOs的原子间距和电荷分布的变化也都受rGNOs表面的含氧缺陷的氧化程度影响. 理论计算的结果与实验观察的结果一致并能给出合理的解释.我们用简单的恒电位电化学沉积法有效地在rGNOs表面制备了粒径只有5 nm的Ni(OH)₂纳米粒子. 在Ni(OH)₂/rGNOs制备过程中,氧化石墨烯的电化学还原是关键步骤. Ni(OH)₂上吸附的Ni(OH)₂因具有更高的吸附能而使其与在镍膜表面直接吸附的Ni(OH)₂(在5 mV·s^-1下比电容为656 F·g^-1)相比具有更高的比电容值(在5 mV·s^-1下为1591 F·g^-1).rGNOs在吸附Ni(OH)₂后构型和电荷分布的变化导致Ni(OH)₂具有更低的等效串联电阻和更佳的频率响应.Ni(OH)₂/rGNOs优异的赝电容特性表明其有潜力成为新型赝电容器材料.     

Supercapattery: Merit merge of capacitive and Nernstian charge storage mechanisms

Supercapattery is the generic name for hybrids of supercapacitor and rechargeable battery. Batteries store charge via Faradaic processes, involving reversible transfer of localised or zone-delocalised valence electrons. The former is governed by the Nernst equation. The latter leads to pseudocapacitance (or Faradaic capacitance) which may be differentiated from electric double layer capacitance with spectroscopic assistance such as electron spin resonance. Because capacitive storage is the basis of supercapacitors, the combination of capacitive and Nernstian mechanisms has dominated supercapattery research since 2018, covering nanostructured and compounded metal oxides and sulphides, water-in-salt and redox active electrolytes and bipolar stacks of multicells. The technical achievements so far, such as specific energy of 270 Wh/kg in aqueous electrolyte, and charging–discharging for more than 5000 cycles, benchmark a challenging but promising future of supercapattery.     

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxithiophene)/MnO2 composite electrodes for electrochemical capacitors

Composite electrodes of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxithiophene) and manganese oxide (PEDOT/MnO₂) have been prepared by electrodeposition of manganese oxide over PEDOT-modified titanium substrate. The PEDOT layers are deposited on titanium by potentiostatic deposition at 1.4 V and at two different temperatures: 5 and 25 °C (named PEDOT₍₅₎ and PEDOT₍₂₅₎, respectively). The electrodes are characterized by field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) and their electrochemical performances are evaluated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) in 1 molL⁻¹ Na₂SO₄. The results show an improvement in the specific capacitance (C_s) of the oxide due to the presence of the polymer layer. Considering only the MnO₂ mass, the C_s values of the electrodes Ti/MnO₂, Ti/PEDOT₍₅₎/MnO₂ and Ti/PEDOT₍₂₅₎/MnO₂, estimated by the CV technique, are 151, 159 and 199 Fg⁻¹ at 10 mVs⁻¹ respectively. The micrographies of electrodes show that the polymer layer leads to very significant changes in the morphology of the oxide layers, which in turn generates the improvement observed in the capacitive property.     

Controlling the morphology,size and phase of Nb2O5 crystals for high electrochemical performance

Herein, the nano-sized niobium pentoxide (Nb₂O₅) with different morphologies and phase structures are synthesized through a very simple thermal treatment method, including the pseudohexagonal Nb₂O₅ nanosheets and pseudohexagonal Nb₂O₅ nanoparticles, orthorhombic Nb₂O₅ nanoparticles. The synthesized pseudohexagonal Nb₂O₅ nanosheets and orthorhombic Nb₂O₅ nanoparticles exhibit better cycling and rate performance than the pseudohexagonal Nb₂O₅ nanoparticles due to the different morphologies and phase structures.