How to optimise energy storage and charging dynamics of electrolyte-filled subnanometer pores

El próximo 11 de noviembre tendrá lugar la charla titulada "How to optimise energy storage and charging dynamics of electrolyte-filled subnanometer pores" a cargo de Svyatoslav Kondrat. La charla se celebrará en el aula 4B de la Facultad de Física a las 12:00.

Abstract:

Subnanometer pores play an increasingly important role in science and technology, finding applications in capacitive energy storage and conversion, electrochemical deionisation, etc. For nanoporous  supercapacitors, electrodes with subnanometer pores provide the highest achievable capacitance and energy density. However, such pores slow the charging process.

In this talk, we will discuss the dynamics of charging subnanometer pores and how to accelerate them. I will demonstrate a transient formation of crowded and dilute ionic-liquid phases inside narrow pores, which leads to pore clogging and correspondingly slow charging. We will see that one can circumvent clogging by applying the voltage slowly, which causes the overall speedup of the charging process. We will also discuss correlations between the charging dynamics and the ion response to the applied potential in the cathode and anode and how to use it to speed up charging. In addition, I will show that also discharging can be accelerated, which may be useful for capacitive deionisation. Finally, I will briefly discuss the role of quantum capacitance in electrical double-layer capacitors and show how lowering the quantum capacitance can enhance the overall stored energy density.