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    Niobium carbide nanofibers as a versatile precursor for high power supercapacitor and high energy battery electrodes
    (London [u.a.] : RSC, 2016) Tolosa, Aura; Krüner, Benjamin; Fleischmann, Simon; Jäckel, Nicolas; Zeiger, Marco; Aslan, Mesut; Grobelsek, Ingrid; Presser, Volker
    This study presents electrospun niobium carbide/carbon (NbC/C) hybrid nanofibers, with an average diameter of 69 ± 30 nm, as a facile precursor to derive either highly nanoporous niobium carbide-derived carbon (NbC–CDC) fibers for supercapacitor applications or niobium pentoxide/carbon (Nb2O5/C) hybrid fibers for battery-like energy storage. In all cases, the electrodes consist of binder-free and free-standing nanofiber mats that can be used without further conductive additives. Chlorine gas treatment conformally transforms NbC nanofiber mats into NbC–CDC fibers with a specific surface area of 1508 m2 g−1. These nanofibers show a maximum specific energy of 19.5 W h kg−1 at low power and 7.6 W h kg−1 at a high specific power of 30 kW kg−1 in an organic electrolyte. CO2 treatment transforms NbC into T-Nb2O5/C hybrid nanofiber mats that provide a maximum capacity of 156 mA h g−1. The presence of graphitic carbon in the hybrid nanofibers enabled high power handling, maintaining 50% of the initial energy storage capacity at a high rate of 10 A g−1 (64 C-rate). When benchmarked for an asymmetric full-cell, a maximum specific energy of 86 W h kg−1 was obtained. The high specific power for both systems, NbC–CDC and T-Nb2O5/C, resulted from the excellent charge propagation in the continuous nanofiber network and the high graphitization of the carbon structure.
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    High performance stability of titania decorated carbon for desalination with capacitive deionization in oxygenated water
    (London : RSC Publishing, 2016) Srimuk, Pattarachai; Ries, Lucie; Zeiger, Marco; Fleischmann, Simon; Jäckel, Nicolas; Tolosa, Aura; Krüner, Benjamin; Aslan, Mesut; Presser, Volker
    Performance stability in capacitive deionization (CDI) is particularly challenging in systems with a high amount of dissolved oxygen due to rapid oxidation of the carbon anode and peroxide formation. For example, carbon electrodes show a fast performance decay, leading to just 15% of the initial performance after 50 CDI cycles in oxygenated saline solution (5 mM NaCl). We present a novel strategy to overcome this severe limitation by employing nanocarbon particles hybridized with sol–gel-derived titania. In our proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate very stable performance in low molar saline electrolyte (5 mM NaCl) with saturated oxygen for the carbon/metal oxide hybrid (90% of the initial salt adsorption capacity after 100 cycles). The electrochemical analysis using a rotating disk electrode (RDE) confirms the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic effect of FW200/TiO2, preventing local peroxide formation by locally modifying the oxygen reduction reaction.