Seminar Presentation: 11:00am – Noon
High-rate electrochemical energy storage with pseudocapacitive oxides
Veronica Augustyn
Texas Materials Institute
University of Texas at Austin
Abstract:
A long-standing challenge for electrochemical energy storage has been to achieve both high energy and high power densities in the same device. This inability arises from the fundamental differences between storing energy within the solid state, as in batteries, as opposed to the surface, as in capacitors. Bridging the gap between energy and power is the motivation for the development of new high-energy and high-power energy storage materials. In this seminar, Dr. Augustyn will describe how such materials are possible with pseudocapacitance in transition metal oxides, whereby charge storage occurs via rapid redox reactions. Pseudocapacitive behavior can be readily identified by examining key electrochemical features. Using these features as guidelines, two different materials will be discussed. Firstly, Nb2O5, which exhibits "intrinsic" intercalation pseudocapacitance, and secondly, TiO2 nanosheets, which exhibit "extrinsic" redox pseudocapacitance. Dr. Augustyn will describe how pseudocapacitive features before the onset of the oxygen evolution reaction are useful in understanding the electrocatalytic behavior of layered transition metal oxides.
Biosketch:
Dr. Veronica Augustyn is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Texas Materials Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research is focused on the development and characterization of materials for electrochemical energy technologies including batteries, electrochemical capacitors, electrolyzers, and fuel cells. In particular, she is interested in the relationships between material structure, redox properties, and electrochemical mechanisms. In addition to her research, she is also the Chair and U.S. organizer of SciBridge, an outreach project that aims to connect African and U.S. university researchers.