An ultrafast nickel–iron battery from strongly coupled inorganic nanoparticle/nanocarbon hybrid materials

Abstract

Ultrafast rechargeable batteries made from low-cost and abundant electrode materials operating in safe aqueous electrolytes could be attractive for electrochemical energy storage. If both high specific power and energy are achieved, such batteries would be useful for power quality applications such as to assist propelling electric vehicles that require fast acceleration and intense braking. Here we develop a new type of Ni-Fe battery by employing novel inorganic nanoparticle/graphitic nanocarbon (carbon nanotubes and graphene) hybrid materials as electrode materials. We successfully increase the charging and discharging rates by nearly 1,000-fold over traditional Ni-Fe batteries while attaining high energy density. The ultrafast Ni-Fe battery can be charged in ~2 min and discharged within 30 s to deliver a specific energy of 120 Wh kg(-1) and a specific power of 15 kW kg(-1). These features suggest a new generation of Ni-Fe batteries as novel devices for electrochemical energy storage.

Research Update: Magnetoionic control of magnetization and anisotropy in layered oxide/metal heterostructures

“…With regard to application, the longevity of the changes must be further investigated. Recent work on supercapacitors, 48 exploiting similar oxidation and reduction reactions in Fe/alkaline electrolyte systems, showed reversibility for at least several hundreds of cycles.…”

A Bifunctional Organic Redox Catalyst for Rechargeable Lithium–Oxygen Batteries with Enhanced Performances

“…Therefore, catalysts have been utilized to reduce the overpotentials and to increase the cycle life. Potential catalysts such as metals, metal oxides, perovskite, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and organic compounds have been investigated 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Ruthenium metal has recently demonstrated superior capability to reduce charge overpotential during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) over other catalysts 25.…”

Dry Sintered Metal Coating of Halloysite Nanotubes

“…Nickel has many potential uses as a catalyst, and as such, nickel acetylacetonate was used to obtain nickel coatings on the tubes for a potentially greater surface area. Nickel and iron also show promise as battery materials when nanostructured [25,26]. The metals chosen for this process were among many that had readily-available acetylacetonate compounds that could be used, but all have use in important applications.…”

“…Nickel has many potential uses as a catalyst, and as such, nickel acetylacetonate was used to obtain nickel coatings on the tubes for a potentially greater surface area. Nickel and iron also show promise as battery materials when nanostructured [25,26].…”