Synthesis and Modification of TiO₂ nanostructured Materials for Energy Storage

Abstract

Increasing energy demand is inexorably linked to the need for efficient energy storage techniques. For practical applications, it is highly desirable to decrease the size of electrical components and to increase the storage capacities while maintaining power, stability, and charging-discharging speeds. Much focus has been directed towards the development of supercapacitors. These are often fabricated from carbonaceous or metal oxide materials with high surface areas to maximize electrode/electrolyte interactions. The use of nanostructured TiO2 electrodes has been explored for this application due to their low cost, high stability, and highly tunable morphology. Here we present the fabrication of nanostructured TiO2 films via a facile anodic process. Characterization of the films was carried out by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Electrochemical reduction of the formed TiO2 film was further performed to increase its capacitance, which was confirmed by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The performance of the symmetric capacitor constructed with the modified TiO2 films will be presented.