Ordered-vacancy-induced cation intercalation into layered double hydroxides: A general approach for high-performance supercapacitors

Journal article

New types of cation storage materials would show tremendous potential in the development of high-performance rechargeable energy storage devices. Herein, we develop layered double hydroxides (LDHs) as promising cation supercapacitor materials in aqueous and neutral operation, via an effective electrochemical activation strategy, for a reversible intercalation of a wide range of metal cations. These activated LDH materials exhibit overwhelming metal-ion storage capacities in aqueous electrolytes as a result of the phase transformation of LDH (repulsive to cations) to hydrogen-vacancy-enriched LDH (LDH-HV, attractive to cations) induced by the electrochemical activation process. The activated LDH-HV phase provides a two-dimensional open channel with abundant active sites (HV) for a reversible intercalation of metal ions, accounting for the significantly enhanced energy storage performance. This vacancy-induced cation intercalation into LDHs builds up a general approach for developing earth-abundant transition-metal resources as a prospective energy storage material toward a large variety of cation supercapacitors.

Authors: Li, Z; Duan, H; Shao, M; Li, J; O'Hare, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cell Press
• Journal: Chem
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 2168-2179
• Publication date: 2018-07-05
• Acceptance date: 2018-06-15
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2018.06.007
• EISSN: 2451-9294
• Keywords: cation intercalation; supercapacitor; electrochemical activation; layered double hydroxide; hydrogen vacancy