Ruthenium Oxide-Based Nanocrystals for Improved Supercapacitor Performance

Topics Covered

Background

Making Use of the Capacitive Properties of Ruthenium Oxide

Structures and Electrochemical Characteristics of Nanocrystalline TixFeyRuzOn Powders after Ball-Milling

Using Ball-Milling to Produce Ruthenium Material

Factors that Improve the Capacitance of Ruthenium-Containing Materials

Background

Electrochemical supercapacitors can be power sources for a large range of equipment. They store large quantities of charge and can be repeatedly charged/discharged either quickly or slowly over tens of thousands of cycles. The high energy density is due to an electric double layer, while the rapid charge/discharge ability comes from being made of materials having either rectangular capacitive cyclic voltammograms (CVs) or pseudocapacitive behaviour, such as high surface-area activated carbons or conducting polymers. Both can be used in aqueous or nonaqueous media.

Making Use of the Capacitive Properties of Ruthenium Oxide

Ruthenium oxide has a very high charge storage capacity when used in aqueous solutions. In attempts to optimise its capacitive properties, prior work has looked at the hydration of ruthenium oxide, its crystallinity and particle size. As ruthenium is costly, other elements have often been mixed with it.

Structures and Electrochemical Characteristics of Nanocrystalline TixFeyRuzOn Powders after Ball-Milling

Now scientists from the Université du Québec à Montréal, INRS-Energie et Matériaux and Institut de Recherche d’Hydro-Quebec, Canada, have produced nanocrystalline TixFeyRuzOn powders by ball-milling, and have examined their structures and electrochemical characteristics. When the O:Ti ratio was > 1, the ruthenium atoms were in an hexagonal phase. Electrodes made from the powders had an increase in capacitance from ~ 5 to ~ 50 F.g^-1 on cycling in H₂SO₄ or NaOH - due to the growth and modification of a surface layer, RuO₂.xH₂O. When O:Ti < 1, ruthenium was in a cubic phase and after cycling or (preferably) leaving the electrode in 1 M NaOH, the maximum capacitance was near 50 to 60 F.g^-1, also due to the growth and modification of a surface oxide layer.

Using Ball-Milling to Produce Ruthenium Material

The ruthenium material produced by ball-milling had a specific surface area of only a few m²g^-1 and agglomerated into larger grains, so reducing the electrochemical surface area. However, a leaching process (milling the nanocrystalline material with aluminium, then removing the aluminium) increased the specific area 10-fold. CVs of this nanocrystalline Ti₂FeRuO₂ in NaOH had 110 F.g^-1 capacitance, even when returned to H₂SO₄.

Factors that Improve the Capacitance of Ruthenium-Containing Materials

It is concluded that the crucial factors for improving the capacitance of ruthenium-containing materials are: the electrochemical behaviour of the matrices used to dissolve the ruthenium and preventing the ruthenium agglomeration.

Note: A complete list of references can be found by referring to the original text.

Source: Platinum Metals Review, July 2002, Volume 46, Number 3, page 105.

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