@phdthesis{Weber2015, author = {Weber, Christian}, title = {Electrochemical Energy Storage: Carbon Xerogel-Manganese Oxide Composites as Supercapacitor Electrode Materials}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130748}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLC), most commonly referred to as "supercapacitors", have gained increasing scientific and commercial interest in recent years. Purely electrostatic charge storage processes allow charge- and discharge cycles in the second-time scale, exhibiting a theoretical capacitance in the order of 100 F per gram of electrode material, thereby providing efficient recuperation devices for electromechanical processes, for example. Introducing electrochemically active materials such as manganese oxides into the supercapacitor electrode, allows to combine the double-layer storage with a battery-like storage process, leading to capacitance that can be up to two orders of magnitude larger than those in EDLC. In the present work, an electroless deposition approach of manganese oxide on a carbon scaffold is adapted and further investigated. The carbon material is derived from an organic xerogel, which in turn is prepared via a sol-gel process, allowing tailoring of the structural properties of the carbon, making it an ideal model system to study the relation between morphology and electrochemical performance in the carbon-manganese oxide hybrid electrode. In the first part of this thesis, a variation of manganese oxide deposition time at a low concentration of precursor solution is analyzed. Mass uptakes reach up to 58 wt.\%, leading to an increase of volumetric capacitance by a factor 5, however reducing the dynamic performance of the electrode. The structural characterization gives hints on the deposition location of the active material either in the intra-particular pores of the carbon backbone or on the enveloping surface area of the particles forming the backbone. In order to comprehensively answer the question of the location of the active material within the hybrid electrode, the particle size of the carbon backbone and therefore the enveloping surface area of the carbon particles was varied. For samples with high mass uptakes, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show a layer thickness of 27 nm of active material around the carbon particles. In order to quantitatively investigate this layer morphology, even for low mass uptakes where no layer is visible in SEM images, a model interpreting data from anomalous small angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) measurements was developed. The results confirm the presence of a layer around the carbon particles, exhibiting a layer thickness ranging from 3 to 26 nm. From an electrochemical point of view, carbon backbones with a large enveloping surface area will lead to high mass uptakes in the electroless deposition process and therefore lead to high capacitance of the electrode. However, for future application, electrodeposition approaches should be investigated in detail, since no deposits will form on the interface between carbon backbone and current collector, leading to a better dynamic performance of the hybrid electrode. Furthermore, the ASAXS-method should be promoted and applied on other material systems, since this technique allows to draw important conclusions and allows to deduce integral and quantitative information towards a rational design of high performance electrodes.}, subject = {Superkondensator}, language = {en} }