Abstract
Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been extensively studied as promising functional nanomaterials owing to their excellent electrochemical activity and tunable chemical composition. In this work, we presented a series of investigations on enhanced interlayer space of LDHs for electrochemical energy and deionization.Firstly, using acetate anions (Ac-) as an intercalating element, NiCo-LDH nanosheets arraying on Ni Foam with different amounts of Ac- anions intercalation or volumes of hydrothermal solution were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. The optimized amount of Ac- anions expanded the interlayer space of LDH nanosheets from 0.8 to 0.94 nm. An ultrahigh specific capacity of 1200 C g-1 at 1 A g-1 (690 C g-1 without Ac- anions), outstanding rate capability of 72.5% at 30 A g-1 and cycle stability of 79.90% after 4500 cycles, which were mainly attributed to the higher interlayer spacing of Ac- anions intercalation.Moreover, CoAl-LDH nanosheets intercalated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) with an enhanced interlayer spacing from 0.76 to 1.33 nm are synthesized and used as an anode of electrosorption. The enlarged interlayer spacing provides an enhanced ion diffusion channel and improves the utilization of the interlayer electroactive sites, while heat treatment transferring LDHs to layered metal oxides offers additional active oxidation reaction sites to facilitate the electro-sorption rate, contributing to the high salt adsorption capacity (31.78 mg g-1) and average salt adsorption rate (3.75 mg g-1 min-1) at 1.2 V in 500 mg L-1 NaCl solution. In addition, the excellent long-term cycling stability (92.9%) after 40 cycles proves the strong electronic interaction between SDS and the host layer, which is validated by density functional theory calculations later on.In addition, ionic surfactants like SDS and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) can be used to modify the morphology of LDH. The original LDH shows microspheres formed by nanorods, and LDH-CTAB is similar, yet more tangled, while LDH-SDS is like micro flowers consisting of interwoven nanosheets. LDH-SDS achieved better electrochemical performance (1003.6 C g-1 at 1 A g-1 and 73.84% after 3500 cycles) than LDHs-CTAB (430.54 C g-1, 57.3%), and both higher than the original LDH (278.5 C g-1, 54.3%), while the electrocatalytic performance like Tafel slope follows an opposite trend owing to the difficulty of bubbles detachment from the nanosheets or nanorods, clearly showing the importance of morphology regulation in the synthesis of nanomaterials.
Published Version
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