New paper published in Langmuir on emerging frontiers in multichannel membrane capacitive deionization. Spearheaded by our group alumni Choonsoo Kim, together with Hyunjin Kim, Seonghwan Kim, and Byeongho Lee from Kongju National University, our joint work dives deep into the advancements and future prospects of MC-MCDI technology. We explore how this innovative approach not only pushes the boundaries of efficiency and sustainability in addressing global water scarcity but also sets new benchmarks for electrochemical desalination.

New battery published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces on hybridization of carbon spherogels with titanium oxide and sulfur enables high performance lithium-ion battery electrodes. As a result from our research project with Michael Elsaesser from the Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg, we introduce a novel approach to enhancing lithium-ion battery electrodes. We have successfully combined titanium oxide and sulfur with carbon spherogels, achieving high performance in terms of stability and capacity. Our method resulted in electrodes combining high charge storage capacity and electrical conductivity, while maintaining a core-shell morphology. The process involved producing carbon spheres encapsulating titania and sulfur using a template-assisted sol-gel route, followed by thermal treatment with hydrogen sulfide gas. This treatment fully preserved the microporous hollow sphere architecture of the carbon shells, facilitating sulfur deposition and titania crystal protection.

New paper published in Energy Advances from our continued collaboration with Michael Elsaesser (Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg) on carbon spherogels. Custom-designed nanoporous carbon materials enhance sustainable electrochemical technologies by offering better performance and efficiency. Carbon spherogels, which are highly porous carbon aerogel materials made up of a network of hollow carbon nanospheres with consistent diameters, are particularly promising. They offer unique advantages, including superior electrical conductivity, customizable porosity, adjustable shell thickness, and extensive surface area. In this work, we present a new, eco-friendlier approach to producing carbon spherogels using a sol-gel process that templates resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) with polystyrene spheres in an organic solvent. By adjusting the molar ratio of resorcinol to isopropyl alcohol (R/IPA) and the polystyrene concentration, we identified the optimal conditions for creating carbon spherogels with tunable wall thicknesses. A simplified solvent exchange method from deionized water to isopropyl alcohol was developed to reduce surface tension in the gel’s pores, making this method both time and cost-efficient. The use of isopropyl alcohol, with its lower surface tension, allows for solvent extraction at room temperature and direct carbonization of RF gels with less than 20% loss in specific surface area compared to those dried supercritically. The resulting materials have specific surface areas ranging from 2300 to 3600 m²/g, as confirmed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy, which also demonstrated their uniform, hollow spherical network structure. Notably, these carbon spherogels act as high-performance electrodes for energy storage in supercapacitors, achieving a specific capacitance of up to 204 F/g at 200 mA/g with a 1 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution as the electrolyte.

New paper published in Journal of Molecular Liquids on binary ionic liquid supercapacitors. There is much to learn from simulation when it comes to understanding nanoscaled ion electrosorption of ions within carbon nanopores. Especially when it comes to the behavior of ionic-liquid-based supercapacitors which promise an extended potential window, and consequently, enhanced energy ratings. Ionic liquids, in absence of a solvent, and with enhanced ion-ion interactions, present an intriguing model system to study size effects in more complex electrolytes with more than just one cation. Our findings, combining simulation and experimental data, reveal the enhanced capacitance of single nanopores and nanoporous electrodes using binary electrolytes. 🔬⚡
I’d like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our research partners (Taras Verkholyak, Dariusz Gołowicz, Andrij Kuzmak, Svyatoslav Kondrat) and my team (Anna Seltmann, Emmanuel Pameté)! And I am proud to share that this is a collaborative Polish 🔴⚪ German ⚫🔴🟡 Ukrainian paper 🔵🟡.