Inorganic Electrode Materials in High-Performance Energy Storage Devices

A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 2885

Special Issue Editor

International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Interests: Inorganic materials; energy storage; electrode chemistry; high-performance batteries

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Electrochemical energy storage (EES) has become the spotlight in the research field on a global scale. Since the first battery commercialization in 1991, inorganic materials are widely investigated in all kinds of the state-of-art EES devices to elaborate the relationships between their working mechanisms, physical and chemical properties and performance by experimental and computational methods. Especially, far more advanced characterizations (in-situ spectroscopy, synchrotron radiation, etc.) and sophisticated simulations are required to understand how the local physical and chemical properties in the interfaces affect the overall performance. In this Special Issue, we wish to cover the most recent advances and progresses of inorganic materials in EES by hosting a mix of original research articles and critical reviews.

Dr. Ting Deng
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • electrochemical energy storage
  • inorganic materials
  • electrode chemistry
  • interfacial properties

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3552 KiB  
Article
Electrochemical Investigation of Lithium Perchlorate-Doped Polypyrrole Growing on Titanium Substrate
by Yibing Xie, Jing Xu, Lu Lu and Chi Xia
Inorganics 2024, 12(4), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics12040125 - 22 Apr 2024
Viewed by 264
Abstract
Lithium perchlorate-doped polypyrrole growing on titanium substrate (LiClO4-PPy/Ti) has been fabricated to act as electroactive electrode material for feasible electrochemical energy storage. A theoretical and experimental investigation is adopted to disclose the conductivity, electroactivity properties and interfacial interaction-dependent capacitance of LiClO [...] Read more.
Lithium perchlorate-doped polypyrrole growing on titanium substrate (LiClO4-PPy/Ti) has been fabricated to act as electroactive electrode material for feasible electrochemical energy storage. A theoretical and experimental investigation is adopted to disclose the conductivity, electroactivity properties and interfacial interaction-dependent capacitance of LiClO4-PPy/Ti electrode. The experimental measurement results disclose that LiClO4-PPy/Ti reveals lower ohmic resistance (0.2226 Ω cm−2) and charge transfer resistance (2116 Ω cm−2) to exhibit higher electrochemical conductivity, a more reactive surface, and feasible ion diffusion to present higher double-layer capacitance (0.1930 mF cm−2) rather than LiClO4/Ti (0.3660 Ω cm−2, 65,250 Ω cm−2, 0.0334 mF cm−2). LiClO4-PPy/Ti reveals higher Faradaic capacitance caused by the reversible doping and dedoping process of perchlorate ion on PPy than the electrical double-layer capacitance of LiClO4/Ti caused by the reversible adsorption and desorption process of the LiClO4 electrolyte on Ti. Theoretical simulation calculation results prove that a more intensive electrostatic interaction of pyrrole N···Ti (2.450 Å) in LiClO4-PPy/Ti rather than perchlorate O···Ti (3.537 Å) in LiClO4/Ti. LiClO4-PPy/Ti exhibits higher density of states (57.321 electrons/eV) at Fermi energy and lower HOMO-LUMO molecule orbital energy gap (0.032 eV) than LiClO4/Ti (9.652 electrons/eV, 0.340 eV) to present the enhanced electronic conductivity. LiClO4-PPy/Ti also exhibits a more declined interface energy (−1.461 × 104) than LiClO4/Ti (−5.202 × 103 eV) to present the intensified interfacial interaction. LiClO4-PPy/Ti accordingly exhibits much higher specific capacitances of 0.123~0.0122 mF cm−2 at current densities of 0.01~0.10 mA cm−2 rather than LiClO4/Ti (0.010~0.0095 mF cm−2, presenting superior electroactivity and electrochemical capacitance properties. LiClO4-PPy/Ti could well act as the electroactive supercapacitor electrode for feasible energy storage. Full article
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10 pages, 3681 KiB  
Article
An Electrochemically Prepared Mixed Phase of Cobalt Hydroxide/Oxyhydroxide as a Cathode for Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries
by Fuwei Li, Yunbo Zhu, Hiroshi Ueno and Ting Deng
Inorganics 2023, 11(10), 400; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11100400 - 12 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1193
Abstract
Cobalt hydroxide is a widely studied electrode material for supercapacitor and alkaline zinc ion batteries. The large interlayer spacing of Co(OH)2 is also attractive to store Zn ions. However, Co(OH)2 is quite unstable in the acidic ZnSO4 electrolyte due to [...] Read more.
Cobalt hydroxide is a widely studied electrode material for supercapacitor and alkaline zinc ion batteries. The large interlayer spacing of Co(OH)2 is also attractive to store Zn ions. However, Co(OH)2 is quite unstable in the acidic ZnSO4 electrolyte due to its amphoteric nature. Herein, we synthesized a mixed phase of Co(OH)2/CoOOH via a two-step electrochemical preparation. As the cathode material for an aqueous zinc ion battery (AZIB), Co(OH)2/CoOOH delivered a maximum capacity of 164 mAh g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 and a high energy density of 275 Wh kg−1. Benefiting from the low charge-transfer resistance, a capacity of 87 mAh g−1 was maintained at 1.6 A g−1, showing a good rate performance of the mixed phase. Various spectroscopy analyses and simulations based on the density functional theory (DFT) suggested a higher thermal stability of the mixed phase than pure Co(OH)2, due to its less local structural disorder. The reduced Co-Co and Co-O shells increased the mechanical strength of the mixed phase to accommodate Zn2+ ions and endure the electrostatic repulsion, resulting in an enhanced cycling stability. The mixed phased also delivered a good stability at the current density of 0.05 A g−1. After 200 cycles, a capacity retention of 78% was retained, with high Coulombic efficiencies. These results provide a new route to synthesize high-performance LDH for aqueous zinc ion batteries. Full article
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10 pages, 2884 KiB  
Article
Two Birds with One Stone: Ammonium-Induced Carbon Nanotube Structure and Low-Crystalline Cobalt Nanoparticles Enabling High Performance of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
by Qi Tan, Hongliang Liu, Guozhu Liang, Kaigui Jiang, Hangxuan Xie, Weijie Si, Jiajv Lin and Xiongwu Kang
Inorganics 2023, 11(7), 305; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics11070305 - 18 Jul 2023
Viewed by 967
Abstract
The electrochemical performance of lithium–sulfur batteries (LiSBs) has been hampered by the slow redox kinetics and shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), which require the rational design and synthesis of highly active electrocatalysts towards this reaction. Herein, worm-like N-doped porous carbon nanotube-supported low-crystalline [...] Read more.
The electrochemical performance of lithium–sulfur batteries (LiSBs) has been hampered by the slow redox kinetics and shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), which require the rational design and synthesis of highly active electrocatalysts towards this reaction. Herein, worm-like N-doped porous carbon nanotube-supported low-crystalline Co nanoparticles (a-Co-NC@C) were derived from binary Zn–Co ZIF via a two-step thermal annealing method. Initial thermal annealing 950 °C in Ar + H2 atmosphere results in the carbonization of binary Zn–Co ZIF and the formation of high crystalline Co nanoparticles. Thermal annealing in ammonia atmosphere at 350 °C not only results in the reduced crystallinity of cobalt nanoparticles; it also promotes the growth of highly graphitized and heavily N-doped intertwined carbon nanotubes. The enlarged porous carbon nanotube structure offers accommodation for sulfur content, while the doped carbon and Co nanoparticles with reduced crystallinity facilitate the redox kinetics of LiPSs, improving the cycling stability, rate performance and capacity of LiSBs batteries. As a result, the a-Co-NC@C cathode displays a specific capacity of 559 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at 1 C, and a specific capacity of 572 mAh g−1 at 3 C. It delivers a specific capacity of 579 mAh g−1 at high sulfur loading of a 2.55 mg cm−2 at 1 C after 400 cycles. This work highlights the importance of phase engineering of carbon matrix and transition metal nanoparticles in electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries. Full article
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