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Ordered mesoporous α-MoO3 with iso-oriented nanocrystalline walls for thin-film pseudocapacitors

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 146–151 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Capacitive energy storage is distinguished from other types of electrochemical energy storage by short charging times and the ability to deliver significantly more power than batteries. A key limitation to this technology is its low energy density and for this reason there is considerable interest in exploring pseudocapacitive materials where faradaic mechanisms offer increased levels of energy storage. Here we show that the capacitive charge-storage properties of mesoporous films of iso-oriented α-MoO3 are superior to those of either mesoporous amorphous material or non-porous crystalline MoO3. Whereas both crystalline and amorphous mesoporous materials show redox pseudocapacitance, the iso-oriented layered crystalline domains enable lithium ions to be inserted into the van der Waals gaps of the α-MoO3. We propose that this extra contribution arises from an intercalation pseudocapacitance, which occurs on the same timescale as redox pseudocapacitance. The result is increased charge-storage capacity without compromising charge/discharge kinetics in mesoporous crystalline MoO3.

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Figure 1: Morphology of mesoporous α-MoO3 with highly oriented crystalline walls.
Figure 2: Structure and chemical characterization of mesoporous α-MoO3 films.
Figure 3: Electrochemical characterization of sol–gel derived MoO3 films.
Figure 4: Capacitive and diffusion-controlled contributions to charge storage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank K.-I. Iimura, A. Reinecke, K. Brezesinski, J. Perlich and V. Augustyn for their assistance in materials preparation and measurements. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research (B.D. and S.H.T.), the National Science Foundation under grant CHE-0527015 (S.H.T.) and by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (Liebig Fellowship, T.B.).

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  1. John Wang

    Present address: Present address: HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California 90265, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at Los Angeles, California 90095-1569, USA

    Torsten Brezesinski & Sarah H. Tolbert

  2. Institute of Physical Chemistry, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen, Germany

    Torsten Brezesinski

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, California 90095-1595, USA

    John Wang & Bruce Dunn

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Contributions

T.B. and J.W.: experimental work and data analysis. S.H.T. and B.D.: project planning and data analysis.

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Correspondence to Sarah H. Tolbert or Bruce Dunn.

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Brezesinski, T., Wang, J., Tolbert, S. et al. Ordered mesoporous α-MoO3 with iso-oriented nanocrystalline walls for thin-film pseudocapacitors. Nature Mater 9, 146–151 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2612

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