In situ monitoring redox processes in energy storage using UV–Vis spectroscopy

Danzhen Zhang, Ruocun (John) Wang, Xuehang Wang*, Yury Gogotsi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)
127 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Understanding energy storage mechanisms in electrochemical energy storage devices lays the foundations for improving their energy and power density. Here we introduce in situ ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy method to distinguish battery-type, pseudocapacitive and electrical double-layer charge storage processes. On the basis of Ti3C2Tx MXene in aqueous acidic and neutral electrolytes, and lithium titanium oxide in an organic electrolyte, we found a correlation between the evolution of UV–Vis spectra and the charge storage mechanism. The electron transfer number for Ti3C2Tx in an acidic electrolyte was calculated using quantitative analysis, which was close to previous measurements using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Further, we tested the methodology to distinguish the non-Faradaic process in Ti3C2Tx MXene in a water-in-salt electrolyte, despite well-defined peaks in cyclic voltammograms. In situ UV–Vis spectroscopy is a fast and cost-effective technique that effectively supplements electrochemical characterization to track changes in oxidation state and materials chemistry and determine the charge storage mechanism.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)567-576
Number of pages10
JournalNature Energy
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

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