New paper published in Sustainable Energy & Fuels on the expected permselectivity of sub-nanometer pores of activated carbon. This effect enables membrane-free use of carbon electrodes for seawater desalination even at high molar strength, such as presented by seawater. This complementary work brings together modeling from the group of Guang Feng (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and experimental work from our team.
New paper published in ACS Nano on ionic structure transition within carbon nanopores that enhance the charge/discharge kinetics of electrical double-layer capacitors. Different from the traditional view that a smaller pore results in slower charging, a non-monotonic relation is found between the charging rate and pore size, in which the charging process is accelerated in some sub-1-nm pores. This work was done in collaboration with Guang Feng (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and Yury Gogotsi (Drexel University).
New paper published in Electrochimica Acta on the influence and best-choice of electrolytes (organic / ionic liquid) when using hybrid supercapacitors operated at 2.8 V. The datae xplore below-ambient and above-ambient temperatures and demonstrates 3-methoxypropionitrile and mixed organic electrolytes as promising ones for specific performance regimes.
New paper published in Desalination. The work with the title “Polymer ion-exchange membranes for capacitive deionization of aqueous media with low and high salt concentration” investigates the desalination performance of ion-exchange membranes coated directly onto carbon electrodes with free-standing ion-exchange membranes at high and low molar strenght. The data show that MCDI enables reasonable desalination even of highly concentrated solutions. The work was done in collaboration with Markus Gallei (Saarland University).
New paper published in Journal of Power Sources on the synthesis of vanadium sulfide / carbon electrospun, free-standing, binder-free electrodes for lithium-ion battery application. This work was in collaboration with the Max-Planck Institute for Iron Research (Christina Scheu) and the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (Angela Kruth).
New paper published in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society on the electrochemisorption of hydrogen and deuterium in carbon nanopores of different pore size. This work was in collaboration with Guang Feng (Huazhong University of Science and Technology).
New paper published in Carbon on the synthesis and electrochemical application of carbon spherogels. This work was in collaboration with the group of Nicolas Hüsing (spearheaded by Michael Elsaesser) at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria.
New paper published in Sustainable Energy & Fuels on titanium niobium oxide / carbon hybrids and composites. Our work demonstrates that well-designed metal oxide / carbon interfaces are of high importance as well as careful phase analysis; it is not suitable to generalize statements like “hybrids are always better than composites”.
New paper published in Carbon comparing pore structure models of nanoporous carbons obtained from small angle X-ray scattering and gas adsorption. This work was accomplished in collaboration with Montanuniversität Leoben (Oskar Paris & Christian Prehal).
New paper published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Energineering on the use of iodide redox electrolytes for high performance electrochemical desalination. Our work explores the use of ceramic cation exchange membranes to overcome the limited permselectivity of polymeric membranes.
New paper published in ACS Applied Energy Materials on the interlayer deprotonation of proton-substituted sodium titanate.
New paper published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A on the use of sodium vanadyl phosphate as electrode material for sodium ion removal via electrochemical desalination.
New paper published in Batteries&Supercaps on vanadium oxide / carbon core/shell electrode materials for lithium-ion anodes. The work was done in collaboration with the Max-Planck Institute in Düsseldorf and present a simplified one-pot/two-step synthesis approach.
New a paper published in Langmuir on the ability to track solvation / desolvation or other constitutional changes with eQCM for carbon or insertion/intercalation materials. This work was in collaboration with Guang Feng (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and Christian Prehal (Graz University of Technology).
New paper published in ACS Applied Energy Materials on the facile use of free-standing and binder-free hybrid fiber mats composed of vanadium oxide and carbon. The obained electrodes show promising performance for lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery applications.
New paper published in Chemistry – A European Journal on promising strategies to hybridize electrically conductive nanocarbon and metal oxides with high ion intercalation capacity.
New paper published in ChemSusChem shows the high desalination performance that can be achieved with the use of lignin-derived activated carbon. Considering the low cost and high availability of lignin, lignin-derived activated carbons are very attractive electrode materials. Our work show the importance to carefully balance the potential and charge of a desalination cell and to carefully consider the intrinsic chemical charge. Only by doing so, we were able to capitalize on the beneficial properties of lignin-derived activated carbon; a “conventional” symmetric cell yielded only a very poor performance instead.
New paper published in ChemSusChem on the use of ion-specific insertion potentials to switch the ion-uptake preference of titanium disulfide. Our proof of concept work exemplifies the switchable preference of titanium disulfide to uptake either Cs or Mg. We expect our concept to be adaptable to many other ionic systems and other electrode materials
New paper published in Batteries & Supercaps on the enhanced rate handling ability of valence-tuned lithium titanate for use in lithium-ion batteries. Our work was done in collaboration with Bosch and is being featured on the front cover of the inaugural issue of the journal.
New paper published in ACS Applied Energy Materials on the use of the MicroJet reactor for the synthesis of SiOC beads for lithium-ion battery applications. This work was in collaboration with Guido Kickelbick of Saarland University.