Issue 1, 2013

In situ tracking of the nanoscale expansion of porous carbon electrodes

Abstract

Electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLC) are rapidly emerging as a promising energy storage technology offering extremely large power densities. Despite significant experimental progress, nanoscale operation mechanisms of the EDLCs remain poorly understood and it is difficult to separate processes at multiple time and length scales involved in operation including that of double layer charging and ionic mass transport. Here we explore the functionality of EDLC microporous carbon electrodes using a combination of classical electrochemical measurements and scanning probe microscopy based dilatometry, thus separating individual stages in charge/discharge processes based on strain generation. These methods allowed us to observe two distinct modes of EDLC charging, one fast charging of the double layer unassociated with strain, and another much slower mass transport related charging exhibiting significant sample volume changes. These studies open the pathway for the exploration of electrochemical systems with multiple processes involved in the charge and discharge, and investigation of the kinetics of those processes.

Graphical abstract: In situ tracking of the nanoscale expansion of porous carbon electrodes

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Oct 2012
Accepted
09 Nov 2012
First published
12 Nov 2012

Energy Environ. Sci., 2013,6, 225-231

In situ tracking of the nanoscale expansion of porous carbon electrodes

T. M. Arruda, M. Heon, V. Presser, P. C. Hillesheim, S. Dai, Y. Gogotsi, S. V. Kalinin and N. Balke, Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, 6, 225 DOI: 10.1039/C2EE23707E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements