(414d) Co-Continuous Composite Electrodes Derived from Bijels That Concurrently Deliver High Energy and Power | AIChE

(414d) Co-Continuous Composite Electrodes Derived from Bijels That Concurrently Deliver High Energy and Power

Authors 

Mohraz, A. - Presenter, University of California, Irvine
Mumm, D. R. - Presenter, University of California
Witt, J. A. - Presenter, University of California, Irvine

Pressing energy demands for national security, distributed power, and portable technologies require the development of energy storage devices that can simultaneously offer high power and energy densities. In order to achieve this goal, the kinetics of ion and electron transport within the electrodes must be enhanced while maintaining a large capacity for energy storage. Therefore, the idealized electrode microstructure has been envisioned as a three-dimensional, co-continuous arrangement of percolating passages for efficient ion and electron transport that would also enable a large volumetric density of active material. Herein, we report a novel method to produce this distinctive microstructure through the use of soft matter templates derived from bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels (bijels). These soft materials inherently have a co-continuous microstructure, where two interpenetrating fluid domains are kinetically arrested through jamming of particles at the fluid-fluid interface during spinodal decomposition. Bijels can be converted to electrolytically active composites through simple chemical post processing steps. Our synthesis procedure allows for independent tuning of the microstructural parameters that govern the electrochemical performance of these electrodes. In this talk, we present composite electrodes that we have synthesized by this technique and demonstrate how their electrochemical characteristics are dictated by these morphological parameters, allowing for concurrent delivery of high energy and power, bridging the gap between modern batteries and supercapacitors.