Performance of Na-ion Supercapacitors Under Non-ambient Conditions—From Temperature to Magnetic Field Dependent Variation in Specific Capacitance

Single phase NaFePO4 can works as economically viable cathode material for Na-systems similar to LiFePO4–a material that led to the commercialization of Li-ion based energy systems. The reported microstructures of hollow NaFePO4 particles, with porous walls, establish their advantages over solid morphologies. The hollow structures deliver stable electrochemical specific capacitance of 115 F g−1 in 2 M NaOH electrolyte, over a large number of cycles. This observation is directly attributed to the increased surface area, transport channels and redox sites, which become available in the porous-hollow particles. Hitherto unreported electrochemical performance under non-ambient environment is also discussed. In contrast to recently reported in Fe-based metal oxides, where significant change in specific capacitance has been reported as a function of magnetic field, it is observed that NaFePO4 can protect itself and suppress modifications. More importantly, NaFePO4 can work as an efficient electrode material in the temperature range RT to 65°C, which makes it useful for automotive industry

Role of the dielectric constant of ferroelectric ceramic in enhancing the ionic conductivity of a polymer electrolyte composite

The dispersal of high dielectric constant ferroelectric ceramic material Ba(0.7)Sr(0.3)TiO(3) (Tc~30 C) and Ba(0.88)Sr(0.12)TiO(3) (Tc~90 C) in an ion conducting polymer electrolyte (PEO:NH4I) is reported to result in an increase in the room temperature ionic conductivity by two orders of magnitude. The conductivity enhancememt "peaks" as we approach the dielectric phase transition of the dispersed ferroelectric material where the dielectric constant changes from ~ 2000 to 4000. This establishes the role of dielectric constant of the dispersoid in enhancing the ionic conductivity of the polymeric composites.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Hollow nanostructures of metal oxides as next generation electrode materials for supercapacitors

Abstract Hollow nanostructures of copper oxides help to stabilize appreciably higher electrochemical characteristics than their solid counter parts of various morphologies. The specific capacitance values, calculated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and charge-discharge (CD) studies, are found to be much higher than the values reported in literature for copper oxide particles showing  intriguing morphologies or even composites with trendy systems like CNTs, rGO, graphene, etc. The proposed cost-effective synthesis route makes these materials industrially viable for application in alternative energy storage devices. The improved electrochemical response can be attributed to effective access to the higher number of redox sites that become available on the surface, as well as in the cavity of the hollow particles. The ion transport channels also facilitate efficient de-intercalation, which results in the enhancement of cyclability and Coulombic efficiency. The charge storage mechanism in copper oxide structures is also proposed in the paper

Ionic noise measurement in polymer electrolytes

Electrical noise associated with ion transport (termed as "ionic noise") has been measured at different temperatures, using a lock-in amplifier and dynamic signal analyzer for a polymer electrolyte PEO:NH4I and its US dispersed composite. The ionic noise suddenly increases as the polymer passes through its phase transition at T-g and T-m. The T-g-peak in the noise measurement appears more clearly than what it does in DTA/DSC or conductivity measurements. Therefore, we suggest the noise technique as a good probe for studying phase transitions in ion conducting solid electrolytes. Further, the present noise measurements also confirm the known results of DTA/DSC studies that both T-g and T-m of polymer electrolytes shift on the formation of composites