Proton-assisted creation of controllable volumetric oxygen vacancies in ultrathin CeO2−x for pseudocapacitive energy storage applications

Sajjad S. Mofarah (), Esmaeil Adabifiroozjaei (), Yin Yao, Pramod Koshy (), Sean Lim, Richard Webster, Xinhong Liu, Rasoul Khayyam Nekouei, Claudio Cazorla, Zhao Liu, Yu Wang, Nicholas Lambropoulos and Charles C. Sorrell
Additional contact information
Sajjad S. Mofarah: UNSW Sydney
Esmaeil Adabifiroozjaei: National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
Yin Yao: Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Sydney
Pramod Koshy: UNSW Sydney
Sean Lim: Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Sydney
Richard Webster: Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Sydney
Xinhong Liu: UNSW Sydney
Rasoul Khayyam Nekouei: UNSW Sydney
Claudio Cazorla: UNSW Sydney
Zhao Liu: UNSW Sydney
Yu Wang: UNSW Sydney
Nicholas Lambropoulos: UNSW Sydney
Charles C. Sorrell: UNSW Sydney

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Two-dimensional metal oxide pseudocapacitors are promising candidates for size-sensitive applications. However, they exhibit limited energy densities and inferior power densities. Here, we present an electrodeposition technique by which ultrathin CeO2−x films with controllable volumetric oxygen vacancy concentrations can be produced. This technique offers a layer-by-layer fabrication route for ultrathin CeO2−x films that render Ce3+ concentrations as high as ~60 at% and a volumetric capacitance of 1873 F cm−3, which is among the highest reported to the best of our knowledge. This exceptional behaviour originates from both volumetric oxygen vacancies, which enhance electron conduction, and intercrystallite water, which promotes proton conduction. Consequently, simultaneous charging on the surface and in the bulk occur, leading to the observation of redox pseudocapacitive behaviour in CeO2−x. Thermodynamic investigations reveal that the energy required for oxygen vacancy formation can be reduced significantly by proton-assisted reactions. This cyclic deposition technique represents an efficient method to fabricate metal oxides of precisely controlled defect concentrations and thicknesses.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10621-2 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-10621-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10621-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().