Single-Crystalline, Metallic TiC Nanowires for Highly Robust and Wide-Temperature Electrochemical Energy Storage.

Customized electrode materials with good temperature adaptability and high-rate capability are critical to the development of wide-temperature power sources. Herein, high-quality TiC nanowires are uniformly grown on flexible carbon cloth as free-standing electric-double-layer supercapacitor electrode. The TiC nanowires, 20-40 nm wide and 3-6 µm long, are single-crystalline and highly conductive that is close to typical metal. Symmetric supercapacitors are constructed with ionic liquid electrolyte and TiC nanowires electrodes as wide-temperature and long-cycle stable power source. Ultrastable high-rate cycling life of TiC nanowire arrays electrodes is demonstrated with capacitance retention of 96.8% at 60 °C (≈440 F g-1 ), 99% at 25 °C (≈400 F g-1 ), and 98% at -25 °C (≈240 F g-1 ) after 50 000 cycles at 10 A g-1 . Moreover, due to high electrical conductivity, the TiC nanowire arrays show ultrafast energy release with a fast response time constant of ≈0.7 ms. The results demonstrate the viability of metal carbide nanostructures as wide-temperature, robust electrode materials for high-rate and ultrastable supercapacitors.

Generic Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube Branches on Metal Oxide Arrays Exhibiting Stable High-Rate and Long-Cycle Sodium-Ion Storage.

A new and generic strategy to construct interwoven carbon nanotube (CNT) branches on various metal oxide nanostructure arrays (exemplified by V2 O3 nanoflakes, Co3 O4 nanowires, Co3 O4 -CoTiO3 composite nanotubes, and ZnO microrods), in order to enhance their electrochemical performance, is demonstrated for the first time. In the second part, the V2 O3 /CNTs core/branch composite arrays as the host for Na(+) storage are investigated in detail. This V2 O3 /CNTs hybrid electrode achieves a reversible charge storage capacity of 612 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 A g(-1) and outstanding high-rate cycling stability (a capacity retention of 100% after 6000 cycles at 2 A g(-1) , and 70% after 10 000 cycles at 10 A g(-1) ). Kinetics analysis reveals that the Na(+) storage is a pseudocapacitive dominating process and the CNTs improve the levels of pseudocapacitive energy by providing a conductive network.

Erratum: Transition Metal Carbides and Nitrides in Energy Storage and Conversion.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1002/advs.201500286.].

Transition Metal Carbides and Nitrides in Energy Storage and Conversion.

High-performance electrode materials are the key to advances in the areas of energy conversion and storage (e.g., fuel cells and batteries). In this Review, recent progress in the synthesis and electrochemical application of transition metal carbides (TMCs) and nitrides (TMNs) for energy storage and conversion is summarized. Their electrochemical properties in Li-ion and Na-ion batteries as well as in supercapacitors, and electrocatalytic reactions (oxygen evolution and reduction reactions, and hydrogen evolution reaction) are discussed in association with their crystal structure/morphology/composition. Advantages and benefits of nanostructuring (e.g., 2D MXenes) are highlighted. Prospects of future research trends in rational design of high-performance TMCs and TMNs electrodes are provided at the end.

Controllable Synthesis of Copper Oxide/Carbon Core/Shell Nanowire Arrays and Their Application for Electrochemical Energy Storage.

Rational design/fabrication of integrated porous metal oxide arrays is critical for the construction of advanced electrochemical devices. Herein, we report self-supported CuO/C core/shell nanowire arrays prepared by the combination of electro-deposition and chemical vapor deposition methods. CuO/C nanowires with diameters of ~400 nm grow quasi-vertically to the substrates forming three-dimensional arrays architecture. A thin carbon shell is uniformly coated on the CuO nanowire cores. As an anode of lithium ion batteries, the resultant CuO/C nanowire arrays are demonstrated to have high specific capacity (672 mAh·g-1 at 0.2 C) and good cycle stability (425 mAh·g-1 at 1 C up to 150 cycles). The core/shell arrays structure plays positive roles in the enhancement of Li ion storage due to fast ion/electron transfer path, good strain accommodation and sufficient contact between electrolyte and active materials.