Inorganic Electrode Materials in High-Performance Energy Storage Devices
A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 5920
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Electrochemical energy storage (EES) has become the spotlight in the research field on a global scale. Since the first battery commercialization in 1991, inorganic materials are widely investigated in all kinds of the state-of-art EES devices to elaborate the relationships between their working mechanisms, physical and chemical properties and performance by experimental and computational methods. Especially, far more advanced characterizations (in-situ spectroscopy, synchrotron radiation, etc.) and sophisticated simulations are required to understand how the local physical and chemical properties in the interfaces affect the overall performance. In this Special Issue, we wish to cover the most recent advances and progresses of inorganic materials in EES by hosting a mix of original research articles and critical reviews.
Dr. Ting Deng
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- electrochemical energy storage
- inorganic materials
- electrode chemistry
- interfacial properties
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Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Author: Wenhe Xie, Zhe An, Xuefeng Li, Qian Wang, Chen Hu, Yuanxiao Ma, Shenghong Liu, Haibin Sun, and Xiaolei Sun
Abstract: Indium oxide (In2O3) is a promising anode material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries, prized for its high electrical conductivity, environmental friendliness, and high theoretical capacity. However, its practical application is significantly limited by severe volume expansion and contraction during the lithium insertion/extraction process. This volume change disrupts the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and degrades contact with the current collector, undermining battery performance. Although nano-structured design of In2O3 can mitigate the volume effect to some extent, pure In2O3 nanomaterials are prone to agglomeration during frequent charging and discharging. In this study, we embed ultrafine In2O3 particles uniformly within a carbon nanofiber framework using electrospinning and thermal annealing. The 1D carbon nanofiber structure provides an effective electronic conductive network and reduces lithium ion diffusion length, which enhances the reactivity of the nanocomposite and improves electrode kinetics. Additionally, the carbon nanofiber framework isolates the ultrafine In2O3 particles, preventing their aggregation. The small volume changes due to the ultrafine size of the In2O3 are buffered by the carbon materials, allowing the overall structure of the In2O3/C composite nanofiber to remain relatively intact during charging and discharging cycles. This stability helps avoid electrode fracture and excessive SEI growth, resulting in superior cycle and rate performances compared to pure In2O3 nanofiber electrodes.
Title: NiCo₂O₄ Electrodes prepared by Inkjet Printing on Kapton substrates for flexible supercapacitor applications
Authors: Α. Βanti, P. Pardalis, Ε. Μantsiou, Μ. Charalampakis, V. Binas, S. Sotiropoulos
Abstract: Flexible pseudocapacitive supercapacitors are essential for advancing modern portable and wearable electronics. NiCo₂O₄ has emerged as a promising electrode material due to its high electrical conductivity, excellent pseudocapacitive behavior, and remarkable electrochemical stability (Αlshanableh et al., 2023). Although various flexible substrates like carbon cloth, graphene, and polymer films are used with NiCo₂O₄ electrodes, Kapton tape (a polyimide film) stands out as the most promising due to its exceptional thermal stability, mechanical flexibility, and chemical resistance (Wang et al., 2021). Research typically focuses on various deposition methods such as electrodeposition, sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, and hydrothermal synthesis. However, the superiority of inkjet printing—in terms of precision, scalability, material efficiency, and costeffectiveness—makes it an excellent choice for fabricating high performance, flexible supercapacitors (Banti et al., 2023).
This study investigates the development and electrochemical performance of flexible NiCo₂O₄ electrodes on insulating Kapton substrates, prepared by inkjet printing for supercapacitor applications. Electrodes were prepared both without and with a thin Au interlayer; the latter improves electrode conductivity. The effect of NiCo2O4 active material loading-film thickness was studied in the 0.1-0.5 mg cm-2 range. The optimum electrode was found to be that with a Au-interlayer and a mass loading of 0.3 mg cm-2 achieving a mass-specific capacitance of 520 F g-1 at a 3 A g-1 discharge rate and an energy density of 18 Wh kg-1, while retaining their performance under a 900 bending angle. These findings show the possibility of using NiCo2O4 in combination with insulating flexible substrates (such as Kapton).