skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Effects of interlayer confinement and hydration on capacitive charge storage in birnessite

Journal Article · · Nature Materials

Nanostructured birnessite exhibits high specific capacitance and nearly ideal capacitive behaviour in aqueous electrolytes, rendering it an important electrode material for low-cost, high-power energy storage devices. The mechanism of electrochemical capacitance in birnessite has been described as both Faradaic (involving redox) and non-Faradaic (involving only electrostatic interactions). To clarify the capacitive mechanism, we characterized birnessite’s response to applied potential using ex situ X-ray diffraction, electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance, in situ Raman spectroscopy and operando atomic force microscope dilatometry to provide a holistic understanding of its structural, gravimetric and mechanical responses. These observations are supported by atomic-scale simulations using density functional theory for the cation-intercalated structure of birnessite, ReaxFF reactive force field-based molecular dynamics and ReaxFF-based grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations on the dynamics at the birnessite–water–electrolyte interface. We show that capacitive charge storage in birnessite is governed by interlayer cation intercalation. We conclude that the intercalation appears capacitive due to the presence of nanoconfined interlayer structural water, which mediates the interaction between the intercalated cation and the birnessite host and leads to minimal structural changes.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1813235
Journal Information:
Nature Materials, Vol. NA, Issue NA; ISSN 1476-1122
Publisher:
Springer Nature - Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (51)

Charge-transfer materials for electrochemical water desalination, ion separation and the recovery of elements journal April 2020
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple journal October 1996
Probing local electrochemistry via mechanical cyclic voltammetry curves journal March 2021
Redox Active Cation Intercalation/Deintercalation in Two-Dimensional Layered MnO 2 Nanostructures for High-Rate Electrochemical Energy Storage journal February 2017
New Insights into Pseudocapacitive Charge-Storage Mechanisms in Li-Birnessite Type MnO 2 Monitored by Fast Quartz Crystal Microbalance Methods journal November 2014
Projector augmented-wave method journal December 1994
A Study of MnO 2 with Different Crystalline Forms for Pseudocapacitive Desalination journal February 2019
Charge equilibration for molecular dynamics simulations journal April 1991
Electrochemical Intercalation of Alkali-Metal Ions into Birnessite-Type Manganese Oxide in Aqueous Solution journal December 1997
From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method journal January 1999
Extending Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Microbalance Techniques to Macroscale Electrodes: Insights on Pseudocapacitance Mechanisms in MnO x -Coated Carbon Nanofoams journal January 2015
ReaxFF Reactive Force Field for Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Hydrocarbon Oxidation journal February 2008
Suppressing Ion Transfer Enables Versatile Measurements of Electrochemical Surface Area for Intrinsic Activity Comparisons journal February 2018
To Be or Not To Be Pseudocapacitive? journal January 2015
In situ Mn K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopic studies of anodically deposited manganese oxide with relevance to supercapacitor applications journal April 2007
Strain Modulated Superlattices in Graphene journal March 2020
On the molecular origin of supercapacitance in nanoporous carbon electrodes journal March 2012
Variation of the MnO 2 Birnessite Structure upon Charge/Discharge in an Electrochemical Supercapacitor Electrode in Aqueous Na 2 SO 4 Electrolyte journal April 2008
New Bonding Model of Radical Adsorbate on Lattice Oxygen of Perovskites journal October 2018
First-principles calculations of the electronic structure and spectra of strongly correlated systems: the LDA + U method journal January 1997
How Do Pseudocapacitors Store Energy? Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Illustration journal March 2017
Ab initiomolecular dynamics for liquid metals journal January 1993
The Origin of Electrochemical Actuation of MnO 2 /Ni Bilayer Film Derived by Redox Pseudocapacitive Process journal January 2019
Investigation into the origin of high stability of δ-MnO2 pseudo-capacitive electrode using operando Raman spectroscopy journal December 2016
A consistent and accurate ab initio parametrization of density functional dispersion correction (DFT-D) for the 94 elements H-Pu journal April 2010
Capacitive versus Pseudocapacitive Storage in MXene journal May 2020
Electrochemical Properties of High Surface Area Vanadium Oxide Aerogels journal January 1999
Pseudocapacitance: From Fundamental Understanding to High Power Energy Storage Materials journal June 2020
Probing the Charge Storage Mechanism of a Pseudocapacitive MnO 2 Electrode Using in Operando Raman Spectroscopy journal September 2015
Structure of K0.5V2O5 journal September 1990
Cathodic Synthesis of Birnessite-Type Layered Manganese Oxides for Electrocapacitive Catalysis journal January 2012
The Solvation Structure of Na + and K + in Liquid Water Determined from High Level ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations journal March 2012
In situ crystallographic investigations of charge storage mechanisms in MnO2-based electrochemical capacitors journal May 2012
High Power Energy Storage via Electrochemically Expanded and Hydrated Manganese-Rich Oxides journal August 2020
Tracking ion intercalation into layered Ti 3 C 2 MXene films across length scales journal January 2020
The ReaxFF reactive force-field: development, applications and future directions journal March 2016
Reversible phase transformation of MnO 2 nanosheets in an electrochemical capacitor investigated by in situRaman spectroscopy journal January 2011
Nature of Electronic Conduction in “Pseudocapacitive” Films: Transition from the Insulator State to Band-Conduction journal July 2019
Structure of synthetic Na-birnessite: Evidence for a triclinic one-layer unit cell journal November 2002
Ab initio molecular dynamics for open-shell transition metals journal November 1993
Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulation of the liquid-metal–amorphous-semiconductor transition in germanium journal May 1994
Accessing the Two‐Electron Charge Storage Capacity of MnO 2 in Mild Aqueous Electrolytes journal May 2020
Structural water and disordered structure promote aqueous sodium-ion energy storage in sodium-birnessite journal October 2019
Calibration of the Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Microbalance journal September 1991
How cations affect the electric double layer and the rates and selectivity of electrocatalytic processes journal October 2019
Operando Atomic Force Microscopy Reveals Mechanics of Structural Water Driven Battery-to-Pseudocapacitor Transition journal May 2018
Construction of Hierarchical α-MnO 2 Nanowires@Ultrathin δ-MnO 2 Nanosheets Core–Shell Nanostructure with Excellent Cycling Stability for High-Power Asymmetric Supercapacitor Electrodes journal April 2016
Framework Doping of Ni Enhances Pseudocapacitive Na-Ion Storage of (Ni)MnO 2 Layered Birnessite journal October 2019
Influence of Microstucture on the Charge Storage Properties of Chemically Synthesized Manganese Dioxide journal September 2002
The Charge Storage Mechanisms of 2D Cation-Intercalated Manganese Oxide in Different Electrolytes journal November 2018
Raman spectra of birnessite manganese dioxides journal April 2003