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In situ tracking of the nanoscale expansion of porous carbon electrodes
Journal article   Peer reviewed

In situ tracking of the nanoscale expansion of porous carbon electrodes

Thomas M Arruda, Min Heon, Volker Presser, Patrick C Hillesheim, Sheng Dai, Yury Gogotsi, Sergei V Kalinin and Nina Balke
Energy & environmental science, v 6(1), pp 225-231
12 Dec 2012

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. Ions insertion into porous carbon electrodes during electrochemical cycling changes the electrode volume reversibly as measured by AFM.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Energy & Fuels
Engineering, Chemical
Environmental Sciences
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