Prof. Dr. Volker Presser

Intercalation-induced dimensional changes in a composite battery electrode (comprising a polymeric binder) are one of the major factors limiting electrode cycling performance. Since electrode performance is expressed by the quantities averaged over its entire surface area (e.g., capacity retention, Faradaic efficiency, rate capability), significant efforts have been made to develop a methodology allowing its facile mechanical diagnostics at the same areal scale. Herein we introduce such a generic methodology for a highly sensitive in situ monitoring of intrinsic mechanical properties of composite battery electrodes. The gravimetric, dimensional, viscoelastic, and adhesive changes in the composite electrodes caused by Li-ions intercalation are assessed noninvasively and in real time by electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (EQCM-D). Multiharmonic acoustic waves generated by EQCM-D penetrate into thin porous electrodes comprising either rigid or a soft binder resulting in frequency and dissipation changes quantified by analytical acoustic load impedance models. As a first demonstration, we used a composite LiFePO4 (LFP) electrode containing either polyvinylidene dichloride (PVdF) or Na carboximethyl cellulose (NaCMC) as rigid and viscoelastic binders, respectively, in aqueous electrolytes. The intercalation-induced volume changes of LFP electrode were evaluated from a hydrodynamic correction to the mass effect of the intercalated ions for PVdF, and both components of the effective complex shear modulus (i.e., storage and loss moduli) in case of NaCMC binder have been extracted. The sliding friction coefficients for large particles bound at their bottom to the quartz crystal surface (a measure of the adhesion strength of binders) has also been evaluated. Tracking the mechanical properties of the composite electrodes in different environments and charging/cycling conditions in a self-consistent manner provides all necessary conditions for an optimal selection of the polymeric binders resistant to intercalation-induced volume changes of intercalation particles.

In this study, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is employed to synthesize hybrid electrode materials of especially tailored mesoporous carbon and vanadium oxide. The highly conformal and precise character of ALD allowed for depositing up to 65 mass % of vanadium oxide inside the 5–20 nm mesopores of the carbon particles, without substantially obstructing internal surface area. The deposited phase was identified as orthorhombic V2O5, and an increasing crystalline order was detected for higher mass loadings. Employing the hybrid material as lithium and sodium intercalation hosts at a rate of 0.5C yielded specific capacities of 310 and 250 mAh/g per V2O5, respectively, while showing predominantly pseudocapacitive behavior, that is, capacitor-like voltage profiles. C-rate benchmarking revealed a retention of about 50% of the maximum capacity for both lithium and sodium at a high rate of 100C. When testing for longevity in lithium-containing electrolyte, a steadily increasing capacity was observed to 116% of the initial value after 2000 cycles. In sodium electrolyte, the capacity faded to 75% after 2000 cycles, which represents one of the most stable performances for sodium intercalation in the literature. Homogeneously distributed vanadium oxide that is locally confined in the tailored carbon mesopores was identified as the reason for enhanced cyclability and rate behavior of the hybrid material.

Atomic layer deposition has proven to be a particularly attractive approach for decorating mesoporous carbon substrates with redox active metal oxides for electrochemical energy storage. This study, for the first time, capitalizes on the cyclic character of atomic layer deposition to obtain a highly conformal and atomically controlled decoration of carbon onions with alternating stacks of vanadia and titania. The addition of 25 mass% TiO2 leads to an expansion of the VO2 unit cell, thus greatly enhancing lithium intercalation capacity and kinetics. Electrochemical characterization revealed ultrahigh discharge capacity of up to 382 mAh[middle dot]g-1 of the composite electrode (554 mAh[middle dot]g-1 per metal oxide) with an impressive capacity retention of 82 mAh[middle dot]g-1 (120 mAh[middle dot]g-1 per metal oxide) at a high discharge rate of 20 A[middle dot]g-1 or 52 C. Rigorous stability benchmarking showed superior stability over 3,000 cycles when discharging to a reduced potential of -1.8 V vs. carbon. These capacity values are among the highest reported for any metal oxide system, while in addition, supercapacitor-like power performance and longevity are achieved. On a device level, high specific energy and power of up to 110 Wh[middle dot]kg-1 and 6 kW[middle dot]kg-1, respectively, were achieved when employing the hybrid material as anode versus activated carbon cathode.

The study presents the synthesis of vanadium oxide/carbon onion hybrid materials. Flower-like vanadium oxide nanostructures nucleate on carbon onion nanoparticles under hydrothermal conditions, forming a highly intertwined network. By varying the amount of added carbon onions during the synthesis, the number of possible nucleation sites can be adjusted, resulting in the preferential growth of vanadium dioxide in either P21/c or C2/m space group. When employed as a lithium intercalation electrode, P21/c VO2 exhibits capacitor-like (pseudocapacitive) lithium intercalation, whereas C2/m VO2 shows battery-like intercalation peaks with a maximum capacity of 127 mA h g-1. By selecting an optimum ratio and thereby combining both intercalation mechanisms, enhanced kinetics with discharge capacities of 45 mA h g-1 and 29 mA h g-1 at high rates of 50 A g-1 and 100 A g-1 (equal to 394C and 788C) are obtained. This behavior can be translated to a device level by using the material as anodes in asymmetric supercapacitors with activated carbon cathodes, yielding a maximum specific energy of 45 W h kg-1 and a high power of 58 kW kg-1, while longevity over 5000 charge/discharge cycles is demonstrated.

Intercalation-induced dimensional changes of composite battery electrodes containing either a stiff or a soft polymeric binder is one of the many factors determining the cycling performance and ageing. Herein, we report dimensional changes in bulk composite electrodes by in situ electrochemical dilatometry (eD) combined with electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (EQCM-D). The latter tracks the mechanical properties on the level of the electrode particle size. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4, LFP) electrodes with a stiff binder (PVdF) and a soft binder (NaCMC) were investigated by cycling in lithium sulfate (Li2SO4) aqueous solution. The electrochemical and mechanical electrode performances depend on the electrode cycling history. Based on combined eD and EQCM-D measurements we provide evidence which properties are preferred for a binder used for a composite Li-ion battery electrode.

Electrochemical energy storage using nanoporous carbons and ionic liquids enables large cell voltages and is a promising way to increase the energy density of electrical double-layer capacitors. The structure of the double layer in solvent-free electrolytes is fundamentally different from other systems with organic or aqueous solvents. In our study, we investigate the physical behavior of nanoporous carbon electrodes in contact with ionic liquids with a multilength scale approach by combining electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance and electrochemical dilatometry. Synergistic combination of both in situ methods allows one to correlate system properties on particle and electrode level. We find that the charging mechanism at low charge is characterized by the exchange of more smaller ions by fewer larger ions. At higher charges, the system is changing to preferred counterion adsorption, which is resulting in a strong increase in the electrode volume. The maximum linear strain for a bulk electrode is 2% in our study, which is quite high for a supercapacitor system.

We present a novel multichannel membrane flow-stream capacitive deionization (MC-MCDI) concept with two flow streams to control the environment around the electrodes and a middle channel for water desalination. The introduction of side channels to our new cell design allows operation in a highly saline environment, while the feed water stream in the middle channel (conventional CDI channel) is separated from the electrodes with anion- and cation-exchange membranes. At a high salinity gradient between side (1000 mm) and middle (5 mm) channels, MC-MCDI exhibited an unprecedented salt-adsorption capacity (SAC) of 56 mg g−1 in the middle channel with charge efficiency close to unity and low energy consumption. This excellent performance corresponds to a fourfold increase in desalination performance compared to the state-of-the-art in a conventional CDI cell. The enhancement originates from the enhanced specific capacitance in high-molar saline media in agreement with the Gouy–Chapman–Stern theory and from a double-ion desorption/adsorption process of MC-MCDI through voltage operation from −1.2 to +1.2 V.

Activated carbon cloth is a promising electrode material for capacitive deionization to accomplish energy efficient desalination of water. The most attractive feature is the combination of high porosity and the ability to shape binder-free electrodes by simple cutting. The macroporous inter-fiber space also assists facile flow of the aqueous medium. Our work presents a thorough benchmarking of activated carbon cloth materials with different pore structures which show different potentials at zero charge. The studied activated carbon cloth textiles possess a large microporosity with an average pore size of 0.7–1.3 nm and stable electrochemical performance in aqueous media with specific capacitance of up to 125 F/g. In aqueous 5 mM NaCl, the electrodes achieve up to 16 mg/g salt adsorption capacity with charge efficiency of 80% at cell voltage of 1.2 V. Further on, we investigated cell voltages between 0.6 V and 1.2 V and applied our predictive salt adsorption tool that is based on the pore structure to the entire voltage window range. Our work also shows that activated carbon cloth can even be operated without a current collector.

Dimensional changes in carbon-based supercapacitor electrodes were investigated using a combination of electrochemical dilatometry and in situ small-angle X-ray scattering. A novel hierarchical carbon material with ordered mesoporosity was synthesized, providing the unique possibility to track electrode expansion and shrinkage on the nanometer scale and the macroscopic scale simultaneously. Two carbons with similar mesopore structure but different amounts of micropores were investigated, employing two different aqueous electrolytes. The strain of the electrodes was always positive, but asymmetric with respect to positive and negative applied voltages. The asymmetry strongly increased with increasing microporosity, giving hints to the possible physical origin of electrosorption induced pore swelling.

Novolac is a low-cost carbon precursor which can be used to derive nanoporous carbon beads in sub-micrometer size. In this study, we introduce this material as a novel electrode material for capacitive deionization (CDI) with high performance stability and superior desalination rate. The polymer beads were synthesized employing a self-emulsifying system in an autoclave, pyrolyzed under argon, and activated with CO2, yielding a specific surface area of 1905 m2 g−1 with a high total pore volume of 1.26 cm3 g−1. After CO2 activation, the material shows a salt sorption capacity of ∼8 mg g−1, but the performance is highly influenced by functional groups, causing an inversion peak and fast performance decay. However, de-functionalization via hydrogen treatment is outlined as an effective strategy to improve the CDI performance. After hydrogen treatment of novolac-derived carbon beads, we obtained a salt sorption capacity of 11.5 mg g−1 with a charge efficiency of more than 80% and a performance stability of around 90% over more than 100 cycles. Particularly attractive for practical application is the very high average salt adsorption rate of 0.104 mg g−1 s−1, outperforming commercial activated carbons, which are commonly used for CDI, by at least a factor of two.