The advancement using controlled architectural design and structural engineering to fine-tune materials to have high power and high energy density simultaneously for electrochemical storage in portable devices is reported by energy researchers at the University of New South Wales.
The designed material comprising of nanoflakes of cerium oxide which is created to a consistent thickness and embedded with molybdenum ions at the Center for Accelerator Science of ANSTO demonstrates promising characteristics for use as an intercalation psuedocapacitor.
The team of researchers involved in the initiative report the fine-tuning of oxygen vacancy requirement and channel creation in cerium oxide embedded with molybdenum ions to attain intercalated pseudocapacitance.
The results of study is published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
An earlier paper published in Nature Communications in 2019 describes ultrathin CeO2-x for pseudocapacitive energy applications.
The latest work on the subject involved structural modifications to the transition metal oxide by creating two-dimensional nanoflakes of defect-rich cerium oxide which are as thin as 12 nanometers on a nickel foam substrate.
This led to intrinsic defects in the nanoflakes by applying cutting conditions via a N2 atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the first strategy involved creation of oxygen vaccines in the system by using a reducing atmosphere, stated the first co-author.
Structurally, nanoflakes have high surface to volume ratios and short cross-sectional vacancy channel that provided an atomic channel for intercalation.
The presence of stable vacancy channels with a significantly higher number of active sites at the surface and subsurface regions in the nanoflakes improved capacitance.
The play was defects was examined in the electrodeposited CeO2-x by annealing under air as well by N2. The reduction elevated gravimetric capacitance by 77 percent.