In situ growth of MnO@Na2Ti6O13 heterojunction nanowires for high performance supercapacitors

Sodium Hexa-Titanate Nanowires Modified with Cobalt Hydroxide Quantum Dots as an Efficient and Cost-Effective Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Media

A novel electrocatalyst with high activity and enhanced durability toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media has been designed and fabricated based on sodium hexa-titanate (Na₂Ti₆O₁₃) nanowires synthesized by a hydrothermal process and modified with Co(OH)₂ quantum dots (QDs) by a facile chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The current response of the developed Ti/Na₂Ti₆O₁₃/Co(OH)₂ nanocomposite electrode attained 10 mA cm^-2 at an overpotential of 159 mV. The nanocomposite electrode exhibited a high stability at an applied current of 100 mA cm^-2. The remarkable catalytic behavior was achieved with a loading amount of ca. 0.06 mg cm^-2 cobalt hydroxide. This is attributed to the high electrochemically active surface area (EASA) gained by the nanowire-structured substrate and considerable enhancement of electrochemical conductivity with the use of Co(OH)₂ quantum dots as an active material. The superior catalytic activity and high stability show that the developed catalyst is a promising candidate for hydrogen production in alkaline media.

High-rate transition metal-based cathode materials for battery-supercapacitor hybrid devices

With the rapid development of portable electronic devices, electric vehicles and large-scale grid energy storage devices, there is a need to enhance the specific energy density and specific power density of related electrochemical devices to meet the fast-growing requirements of energy storage. Battery-supercapacitor hybrid devices (BSHDs), combining the high-energy-density feature of batteries and the high-power-density properties of supercapacitors, have attracted mass attention in terms of energy storage. However, the electrochemical performances of cathode materials for BSHDs are severely limited by poor electrical conductivity and ion transport kinetics. As the rich redox reactions induced by transition metal compounds are able to offer high specific capacity, they are an ideal choice of cathode materials. Therefore, this paper reviews the currently advanced progress of transition metal compound-based cathodes with high-rate performance in BSHDs. We discuss some efficient strategies of enhancing the rate performance of transition metal compounds, including developing intrinsic electrode materials with high conductivity and fast ion transport; modifying materials, such as inserting defects and doping; building composite structures and 3D nano-array structures; interfacial engineering and catalytic effects. Finally, some suggestions are proposed for the potential development of cathodes for BSHDs, which may provide a reference for significant progress in the future.

In-Situ Synthesis of Heterostructured Carbon-Coated Co/MnO Nanowire Arrays for High-Performance Anodes in Asymmetric Supercapacitors

Structural design is often investigated to decrease the electron transfer depletion in/on the pseudocapacitive electrode for excellent capacitance performance. However, a simple way to improve the internal and external electron transfer efficiency is still challenging. In this work, we prepared a novel structure composed of cobalt (Co) nanoparticles (NPs) embedded MnO nanowires (NWs) with an N-doped carbon (NC) coating on carbon cloth (CC) by in situ thermal treatment of polydopamine (PDA) coated MnCo₂O_4.5 NWs in an inert atmosphere. The PDA coating was carbonized into the NC shell and simultaneously reduced the MnCo₂O_4.5 to Co NPs and MnO NWs, which greatly improve the surface and internal electron transfer ability on/in MnO boding well supercapacitive properties. The hybrid electrode shows a high specific capacitance of 747 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ and good cycling stability with 93% capacitance retention after 5,000 cycles at 10 A g⁻¹. By coupling with vanadium nitride with an N-doped carbon coating (VN@NC) negative electrode, the asymmetric supercapacitor delivers a high energy density of 48.15 Wh kg⁻¹ for a power density of 0.96 kW kg⁻¹ as well as outstanding cycling performance with 82% retention after 2000 cycles at 10 A g⁻¹. The electrode design and synthesis suggests large potential in the production of high-performance energy storage devices.

K2Ti6O13 Nanoparticle-Loaded Porous rGO Crumples for Supercapacitors

One-dimensional alkali metal titanates containing potassium, sodium, and lithium are of great concern owing to their high ion mobility and high specific surface area. When those titanates are combined with conductive materials such as graphene, carbon nanotube, and carbon nanofiber, they are able to be employed as efficient electrode materials for supercapacitors. Potassium hexa-titanate (K₂Ti₆O₁₃, KTO), in particular, has shown superior electrochemical properties compared to other alkali metal titanates because of their large lattice parameters induced by the large radius of potassium ions. Here, we present porous rGO crumples (PGC) decorated with KTO nanoparticles (NPs) for application to supercapacitors. The KTO NP/PGC composites were synthesized by aerosol spray pyrolysis and post-heat treatment. KTO NPs less than 10 nm in diameter were loaded onto PGCs ranging from 3 to 5 µm. Enhanced porous structure of the composites was obtained by the activation of rGO by adding an excessive amount of KOH to the composites. The KTO NP/PGC composite electrodes fabricated at the GO/KOH/TiO₂ ratio of 1:3:0.25 showed the highest performance (275 F g^-1) in capacitance with different KOH concentrations and cycling stability (83%) after 2000 cycles at a current density of 1 A g^-1.