A flow cell for transient voltammetry and in situ grazing incidence X-ray diffraction characterization of electrocrystallized cadmium(II) tetracyanoquinodimethane

Electronic modulation and structural engineering of tetracyanoquinodimethane with enhanced reaction kinetics for aqueous NH4+ storage

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have received much attention because of their environmental, financial, and safety concerns. The advantages of aqueous electrochemical energy storage include environmental friendliness and safety, and the development of prepared electrode materials is predicted to alleviate these issues. A redox-active organic compound, 7,7,8,8‑tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), is a suitable electrode for aqueous batteries. In this work, the porous and electronic interconnected structure of TCNQ is designed by electronic modulation and structure engineering. With the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in situ homogeneous loading TCNQ by a one-step facile approach, the exquisite architecture has enhanced conductivity and connected conductive networks, favoring the storage and transportation of NH₄⁺ or electrons in aqueous electrolytes. As a cathode, the obtained TCNQ-rGO exhibits superior performance for NH₄⁺ batteries with an improved reversible capacity of 92.7 mAh/g at 1 A/g of quadruple capacity boosting to pure TCNQ and stable cycle life (5000 cycles at 10 A/g). The adjustment of the loading ratio of TCNQ and rGO for the cycling performance has been studied in detail. Furthermore, the superior ammonium storage mechanism of the TCNQ-rGO hybrid is thoroughly discussed by in situ Raman or ex situ measurements, which also determine the redox activity center groups of the TCNQ-rGO hybrid. Energy level calculations are conducted to help illustrate its potential as an electrode material. Our work demonstrates that electronic modulation and structural engineering of TCNQ can improve the electrochemical performance of molecular organic compound-based electrodes for aqueous rechargeable batteries in a simple and effective way.

Operando Nanoscale Imaging of Electrochemically Induced Strain in a Locally Polarized Pt Grain

Developing new methods that reveal the structure of electrode materials under polarization is key to constructing robust structure-property relationships. However, many existing methods lack the spatial resolution in structural changes and fidelity to electrochemical operating conditions that are needed to probe catalytically relevant structures. Here, we combine a nanopipette electrochemical cell with three-dimensional X-ray Bragg coherent diffractive imaging to study how strain in a single Pt grain evolves in response to applied potential. During polarization, marked changes in surface strain arise from the Coulombic attraction between the surface charge on the electrode and the electrolyte ions in the electrochemical double layers, while the strain in the bulk of the crystal remains unchanged. The concurrent surface redox reactions have a strong influence on the magnitude and nature of the strain changes under polarization. Our studies provide a powerful blueprint to understand how structural evolution influences electrochemical performance at the nanoscale.

Microfluidic electrochemical cell for in situ structural characterization of amorphous thin-film catalysts using high-energy X-ray scattering

Porous, high-surface-area electrode architectures are described that allow structural characterization of interfacial amorphous thin films with high spatial resolution under device-relevant functional electrochemical conditions using high-energy X-ray (>50 keV) scattering and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. Porous electrodes were fabricated from glass-capillary array membranes coated with conformal transparent conductive oxide layers, consisting of either a 40 nm-50 nm crystalline indium tin oxide or a 100 nm-150 nm-thick amorphous indium zinc oxide deposited by atomic layer deposition. These porous electrodes solve the problem of insufficient interaction volumes for catalyst thin films in two-dimensional working electrode designs and provide sufficiently low scattering backgrounds to enable high-resolution signal collection from interfacial thin-film catalysts. For example, PDF measurements were readily obtained with 0.2 Å spatial resolution for amorphous cobalt oxide films with thicknesses down to 60 nm when deposited on a porous electrode with 40 µm-diameter pores. This level of resolution resolves the cobaltate domain size and structure, the presence of defect sites assigned to the domain edges, and the changes in fine structure upon redox state change that are relevant to quantitative structure-function modeling. The results suggest the opportunity to leverage the porous, electrode architectures for PDF analysis of nanometre-scale surface-supported molecular catalysts. In addition, a compact 3D-printed electrochemical cell in a three-electrode configuration is described which is designed to allow for simultaneous X-ray transmission and electrolyte flow through the porous working electrode.

Transformation of Cadmium Tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) into a Cadmium Terephthalate Metal–Organic Framework

The transformation of cadmium 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) into a cadmium terephthalate co-ordination polymer is reported, with the chemistry of this material elucidated using elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation single-crystal X-ray diffraction. A heptacoordinated CdII linear coordination polymer catena-poly[triaqua-(μ2-benzene-1,4-dicarboxylato-κO,O′)cadmium(ii)]hydrate (1) was isolated while attempting to recrystallize Cd(TCNQ)2. Density functional theory calculations for the oxidation of benzylic carbon attached to the cyano group provided evidence that the reaction pathway proposed herein is highly exergonic and thermodynamically plausible. This structure showed a distorted pentagonal bipyramidal geometry together with a symmetrical mononuclear unit in which each CdII ion is doubly bridged by a dicarboxylato anion. Owing to the softness and minute size of these crystals, this structure had to be elucidated using synchrotron radiation X-ray crystallography.

A Combined Voltammetric and Synchrotron Radiation-Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction Study of the Electrocrystallization of Zinc Tetracyanoquinodimethane

The in situ electrocrystallization of zinc tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) has been explored using synchrotron radiation-grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (SR-GIXRD) at potentials in the region of the cyclic voltammetric peak where reduction of TCNQ to TCNQ– occurs at a Pt electrode in acetonitrile (0.1 M [NBu4][PF6]) solution containing Zn(NO3)2·6H2O. The in situ SR-GIXRD data along with ex situ IR and Raman spectroscopy results all confirmed the formation of the kinetically favoured phase of Zn[TCNQ]2(H2O)2 as the product.