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    Combining Battery‐Type and Pseudocapacitive Charge Storage in Ag/Ti3C2Tx MXene Electrode for Capturing Chloride Ions with High Capacitance and Fast Ion Transport
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2020) Liang, Mingxing; Wang, Lei; Presser, Volker; Dai, Xiaohu; Yu, Fei; Ma, Jie
    The recent advances in chloride‐ion capturing electrodes for capacitive deionization (CDI) are limited by the capacity, rate, and stability of desalination. This work introduces Ti3C2Tx/Ag synthesized via a facile oxidation‐reduction method and then uses it as an anode for chloride‐ion capture in CDI. Silver nanoparticles are formed successfully and uniformly distributed with the layered‐structure of Ti3C2Tx. All Ti3C2Tx/Ag samples are hydrophilic, which is beneficial for water desalination. Ti3C2Tx/Ag samples with a low charge transfer resistance exhibit both pseudocapacitive and battery behaviors. Herein, the Ti3C2Tx/Ag electrode with a reaction time of 3 h exhibits excellent desalination performance with a capacity of 135 mg Cl− g−1 at 20 mA g−1 in a 10 × 10−3 m NaCl solution. Furthermore, low energy consumption of 0.42 kWh kg−1 Cl− and a desalination rate of 1.5 mg Cl− g−1 min−1 at 50 mA g−1 is achieved. The Ti3C2Tx/Ag system exhibits fast rate capability, high desalination capacity, low energy consumption, and excellent cyclability, which can be ascribed to the synergistic effect between the battery and pseudocapacitive behaviors of the Ti3C2Tx/Ag hybrid material. This work provides fundamental insight into the coupling of battery and pseudocapacitive behaviors during Cl− capture for electrochemical desalination.
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    Choosing the right carbon additive is of vital importance for high-performance Sb-based Na-ion batteries
    (London [u.a.] : RSC, 2020) Pfeifer, Kristina; Arnold, Stefanie; Budak, Öznil; Luo, Xianlin; Presser, Volker; Ehrenberg, Helmut; Dsoke, Sonia
    Electrodes based on alloying reactions for sodium-ion batteries (NIB) offer high specific capacity but require bespoken electrode material design to enable high performance stability. This work addresses that issue by systematically exploring the impact of carbon properties on antimony/carbon composite electrodes for NIBs. Since the Sb surface is covered by an insulating oxide layer, carbon additives are crucial for the percolation and electrochemical activity of Sb based anodes. Instead of using complex hybridization strategies, the ability of mechanical mixing to yield stable high-performance Sb/C sodium-ion battery (NIB) electrodes is shown. This is only possible by considering the physical, chemical, and structural features of the carbon phase. A comparison of carbon nanohorns, onion-like carbon, carbon black, and graphite as conductive additives is given in this work. The best performance is not triggered by the highest or lowest surface area, and not by highest or lowest heteroatom content, but by the best ability to homogenously distribute within the Sb matrix. The latter provides an optimum interaction between carbon and Sb and is best enabled by onion-like carbon. A remarkable rate performance is attained, electrode cracking caused by volume expansion is successfully prevented, and the homogeneity of the solid/electrolyte interphase is significantly improved as a result of it. With this composite electrode, a reversible capacity of 490 mA h g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and even 300 mA g-1 at 8 A g-1 is obtained. Additionally, high stability with a capacity retention of 73% over 100 cycles is achieved at charge/discharge rates of 0.2 A g-1 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Persistent and reversible solid iodine electrodeposition in nanoporous carbons
    (Berlin : Springer Nature, 2020) Prehal, Christian; Fitzek, Harald; Kothleitner, Gerad; Presser, Volker; Gollas, Bernhard; Freunberger, Stefan A.; Abbas, Qamar
    Aqueous iodine based electrochemical energy storage is considered a potential candidate to improve sustainability and performance of current battery and supercapacitor technology. It harnesses the redox activity of iodide, iodine, and polyiodide species in the confined geometry of nanoporous carbon electrodes. However, current descriptions of the electrochemical reaction mechanism to interconvert these species are elusive. Here we show that electrochemical oxidation of iodide in nanoporous carbons forms persistent solid iodine deposits. Confinement slows down dissolution into triiodide and pentaiodide, responsible for otherwise significant self-discharge via shuttling. The main tools for these insights are in situ Raman spectroscopy and in situ small and wide-angle X-ray scattering (in situ SAXS/WAXS). In situ Raman confirms the reversible formation of triiodide and pentaiodide. In situ SAXS/WAXS indicates remarkable amounts of solid iodine deposited in the carbon nanopores. Combined with stochastic modeling, in situ SAXS allows quantifying the solid iodine volume fraction and visualizing the iodine structure on 3D lattice models at the sub-nanometer scale. Based on the derived mechanism, we demonstrate strategies for improved iodine pore filling capacity and prevention of self-discharge, applicable to hybrid supercapacitors and batteries.
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    Author Correction: Persistent and reversible solid iodine electrodeposition in nanoporous carbons
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2020) Prehal, Christian; Fitzek, Harald; Kothleitner, Gerald; Presser, Volker; Gollas, Bernhard; Freunberger, Stefan A.; Abbas, Qamar
    Correction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18610-6, published online 24 September 2020.
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    How to speed up ion transport in nanopores
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2020) Breitsprecher, Konrad; Janssen, Mathijs; Srimuk, Pattarachai; Mehdi, B. Layla; Presser, Volker; Holm, Christian; Kondrat, Svyatoslav
    Electrolyte-filled subnanometre pores exhibit exciting physics and play an increasingly important role in science and technology. In supercapacitors, for instance, ultranarrow pores provide excellent capacitive characteristics. However, ions experience difficulties in entering and leaving such pores, which slows down charging and discharging processes. In an earlier work we showed for a simple model that a slow voltage sweep charges ultranarrow pores quicker than an abrupt voltage step. A slowly applied voltage avoids ionic clogging and co-ion trapping—a problem known to occur when the applied potential is varied too quickly—causing sluggish dynamics. Herein, we verify this finding experimentally. Guided by theoretical considerations, we also develop a non-linear voltage sweep and demonstrate, with molecular dynamics simulations, that it can charge a nanopore even faster than the corresponding optimized linear sweep. For discharging we find, with simulations and in experiments, that if we reverse the applied potential and then sweep it to zero, the pores lose their charge much quicker than they do for a short-circuited discharge over their internal resistance. Our findings open up opportunities to greatly accelerate charging and discharging of subnanometre pores without compromising the capacitive characteristics, improving their importance for energy storage, capacitive deionization, and electrochemical heat harvesting.
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    Hybrid Anodes of Lithium Titanium Oxide and Carbon Onions for Lithium‐Ion and Sodium‐Ion Energy Storage
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2020) Shim, Hwirim; Arnold, Stefanie; Budak, Öznil; Ulbricht, Maike; Srimuk, Pattarachai; Presser, Volker
    This study demonstrates the hybridization of Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) with different types of carbon onions synthesized from nanodiamonds. The carbon onions mixed with a Li4Ti5Ox precursor for sol–gel synthesis. These hybrid materials are tested as anodes for both lithium‐ion battery (LIB) and sodium‐ion battery (SIB). Electrochemical characterization for LIB application is carried out using 1 m LiPF6 in a 1:1 (by volume) ethylene carbonate and dimethyl carbonate as the electrolyte. For lithium‐ion intercalation, LTO hybridized with carbon onions from the inert‐gas route achieves an excellent electrochemical performance of 188 mAh g−1 at 10 mA g−1, which maintains 100 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 and has a cycling stability of 96% of initial capacity after 400 cycles, thereby outperforming both neat LTO and LTO with onions obtained via vacuum treatment. The performance of the best‐performing hybrid material (LTO with carbon onions from argon annealing) in an SIB is tested, using 1 m NaClO4 in ethylene/dimethyl/fluoroethylene carbonate (19:19:2 by mass) as the electrolyte. A maximum capacity of 102 mAh g−1 for the SIB system is obtained, with a capacity retention of 96% after 500 cycles.