Novel diverse-structured h-WO3 nanoflake arrays as electrode materials for high performance supercapacitors

Synthesis and Capacitive Properties of Mesoporous Tungsten Oxide Films Prepared by Ultrasonic Spray Deposition

Mesoporous tungsten trioxide (WO3) films are prepared by the combination of the template-assisted sol-gel method and ultrasonic spraying deposition (USD) for supercapacitors, and then the surface morphology and electrochemical performance of the films are studied. Compared to WO3 prepared by the traditional hydrothermal synthesis and spin coating method, the films obtained by USD exhibit advantages such as low cost, minimal material usage, and suitability for large-area in-line manufacturing. Additionally, the mesoporous structure of USD-produced films is also supportive of ion transportation. Due to the high specific surface area of WO3 films deposited by USD, it is a material capable of use in a high-performance energy storage device. Through the control of spray coats, the film thickness and specific capacitance can be effectively controlled. Electrochemical measurements show that the mesoporous WO3 films possess excellent electrochemical performance with a maximum specific capacitance of 109.15 F/g at 0.5 A/g. The cycling performance up to 5000 cycles of mesoporous WO3 films is due to the stable nature of nanocrystalline produced by the combination of USD and sol-gel chemistry.

Iron/vanadium co-doped tungsten oxide nanostructures anchored on graphitic carbon nitride sheets (FeV-WO3@g-C3N4) as a cost-effective novel electrode material for advanced supercapacitor applications

In this work, we studied the effect of iron (Fe) and vanadium (V) co-doping (Fe/V), and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) on the performance of tungsten oxide (WO3) based electrodes for supercapacitor applications. The lone pair of electrons on nitrogen can improve the surface polarity of the g-C3N4 electrode material, which may results in multiple binding sites on the surface of electrode for interaction with electrolyte ions. As electrolyte ions interact with g-C3N4, they quickly become entangled with FeV-WO3 nanostructures, and the contact between the electrolyte and the working electrode is strengthened. Herein, FeV-WO3@g-C3N4 is fabricated by a wet chemical approach along with pure WO3 and FeV-WO3. All of the prepared samples i.e., WO3, FeV-WO3, and FeV-WO3@g-C3N4 were characterized by XRD, FTIR, EDS, FESEM, XPS, Raman, and BET techniques. Electrochemical performance is evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanic charge/discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It is concluded from electrochemical studies that FeV-WO3@g-C3N4 exhibits the highest electrochemical performance with specific capacitance of 1033.68 F g-1 at scan rate 5 mV s-1 in the potential window range from -0.8 to 0.25 V, that is greater than that for WO3 (422.76 F g-1) and FeV-WO3 (669.76 F g-1). FeV-WO3@g-C3N4 has the highest discharge time (867 s) that shows it has greater storage capacity, and its coulombic efficiency is 96.7%, which is greater than that for WO3 (80.1%) and FeV-WO3 (92.1%), respectively. Furthermore, excellent stability up to 2000 cycles is observed in FeV-WO3@g-C3N4. It is revealed from EIS measurements that equivalent series resistance and charge transfer values calculated for FeV-WO3@g-C3N4 are 1.82 Ω and 0.65 Ω, respectively.

Regulating electron transportation by tungsten oxide nanocapacitors for enhanced radiation therapy

In the process of radiation therapy (RT), the cytotoxic effects of excited electrons generated from water radiolysis tend to be underestimated due to multiple biochemical factors, particularly the recombination between electrons and hydroxyl radicals (·OH). To take better advantage of radiolytic electrons, we constructed WO₃ nanocapacitors that reversibly charge and discharge electrons to regulate electron transportation and utilization. During radiolysis, WO₃ nanocapacitors could contain the generated electrons that block electron-·OH recombination and contribute to the yield of ·OH at a high level. These contained electrons could be discharged from WO₃ nanocapacitors after radiolysis, resulting in the consumption of cytosolic NAD⁺ and impairment of NAD⁺-dependent DNA repair. Overall, this strategy of nanocapacitor-based radiosensitization improves the radiotherapeutic effects by increasing the utilization of radiolytic electrons and ·OH, warranting further validation in multiple tumour models and preclinical experiments.

Advances in WO3-Based Supercapacitors: State-of-the-Art Research and Future Perspectives

Electrochemical energy storage devices are one of the main protagonists in the ongoing technological advances in the energy field, whereby the development of efficient, sustainable, and durable storage systems aroused a great interest in the scientific community. Batteries, electrical double layer capacitors (EDLC), and pseudocapacitors are characterized in depth in the literature as the most powerful energy storage devices for practical applications. Pseudocapacitors bridge the gap between batteries and EDLCs, thus supplying both high energy and power densities, and transition metal oxide (TMO)-based nanostructures are used for their realization. Among them, WO₃ nanostructures inspired the scientific community, thanks to WO₃'s excellent electrochemical stability, low cost, and abundance in nature. This review analyzes the morphological and electrochemical properties of WO₃ nanostructures and their most used synthesis techniques. Moreover, a brief description of the electrochemical characterization methods of electrodes for energy storage, such as Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic Charge-Discharge (GCD), and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) are reported, to better understand the recent advances in WO₃-based nanostructures, such as pore WO₃ nanostructures, WO₃/carbon nanocomposites, and metal-doped WO₃ nanostructure-based electrodes for pseudocapacitor applications. This analysis is reported in terms of specific capacitance calculated as a function of current density and scan rate. Then we move to the recent progress made for the design and fabrication of WO₃-based symmetric and asymmetric supercapacitors (SSCs and ASCs), thus studying a comparative Ragone plot of the state-of-the-art research.

Vanadium oxide nanorods as an electrode material for solid state supercapacitor

The electrochemical properties of metal oxides are very attractive and fascinating in general, making them a potential candidate for supercapacitor application. Vanadium oxide is of particular interest because it possesses a variety of valence states and is also cost effective with low toxicity and a wide voltage window. In the present study, vanadium oxide nanorods were synthesized using a modified sol-gel technique at low temperature. Surface morphology and crystallinity studies were carried out by using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. To the best of our knowledge, the as-prepared nanorods were tested with magnesium ion based polymer gel electrolyte for the first time. The prepared supercapacitor cell exhibits high capacitance values of the order of ~ 141.8 F g^-1 with power density of ~ 2.3 kW kg^-1 and energy density of ~ 19.1 Wh kg^-1. The cells show excellent rate capability and good cycling stability.

Complete mineralization of phenolic compounds in visible-light-driven photocatalytic ozonation with single-crystal WO3 nanosheets: Performance and mechanism investigation

Complete mineralization of phenolic compounds into CO₂ and H₂O is desirable for removing them in wastewater, but it is challenging due to the generated recalcitrant intermediates, which requires highly effective advanced oxidation process with proper catalysts. Herein, we found that single-crystal WO₃ nanosheets (NSs)-based photocatalytic ozonation (PCO) can realize complete mineralization of phenols (phenol and 2-chlorophenol) under visible light irradiation. Almost 100% mineralization ratio of phenols was achieved through WO₃ NSs-based PCO system within short time. By comparing their performances with those of polycrystalline WO₃ nanoparticles, detecting and analyzing the intermediates, identifying the dominant radicals and conducting some electrochemical characterizations, the origin of superior catalytic activity of WO₃ NSs was uncovered, the mineralization pathways and the overall mechanism were proposed. The excellent PCO performance of WO₃ NSs was contributed to their nanosheet morphology with single-crystal microstructure and good dispersion, which can provide continuous interior channels for the photogenerated charge transport from the bulk to surface of WO₃ NSs and enough active sites for the surface reactions triggered by these charges. This work puts forwards new ideas to design highly active photocatalysts for PCO and helps deepen understanding of the catalytic mechanism of PCO.

Oxygen vacancy enriched Cu-WO3 hierarchical structures for the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

Cu-WO3 hierarchical structures are rapidly prepared and they exhibit excellent catalytic activity in AP decomposition due to their rich oxygen vacancies and Lewis acid sites.

Proton-insertion-pseudocapacitance of tungsten bronze tunnel structure enhanced by transition metal ion anchoring

The one-dimensional channel array of hexagonal tungsten bronze (WO₃) offers an electron transfer matrix, but its overwhelming H⁺ adsorption hinders it from being a good supercapacitor electrode material. Inspired by the Volcano plot on the relation between transition-metal and free energy of H-adsorption, we propose a new strategy to anchor transition metal ions (Zn²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, Ag⁺, Au³⁺ and Ir³⁺) into the WO₃ lattice to improve proton-insertion based pseudocapacitance. Among the variety of transition metals, Zn²⁺ exhibits the optimal O 2p band center, which matches well with the best experimental capacitive behavior. The molar ratio of Zn/WO₃ ranges from 0.2 to 0.6. The specific capacitance for Zn²⁺-anchored WO₃ (390 F g^-1) reaches 202% of that of WO₃ (193 F g^-1) at 0.5 A g^-1 with robust stability (259 F g^-1 at 3 A g^-1 for 3000 cycles). Density functional theory confirms that O 2p is shifted down by the d-filling cations, which corresponds to alleviated O-H interaction and facilitated H⁺ desorption. The band tuning by transition-metal-ion incorporation would break new ground on developing high-capacitance metal oxide supercapacitors.

Advances in Electrochemical Energy Devices Constructed with Tungsten Oxide-Based Nanomaterials

Tungsten oxide-based materials have drawn huge attention for their versatile uses to construct various energy storage devices. Particularly, their electrochromic devices and optically-changing devices are intensively studied in terms of energy-saving. Furthermore, based on close connections in the forms of device structure and working mechanisms between these two main applications, bifunctional devices of tungsten oxide-based materials with energy storage and optical change came into our view, and when solar cells are integrated, multifunctional devices are accessible. In this article, we have reviewed the latest developments of tungsten oxide-based nanostructured materials in various kinds of applications, and our focus falls on their energy-related uses, especially supercapacitors, lithium ion batteries, electrochromic devices, and their bifunctional and multifunctional devices. Additionally, other applications such as photochromic devices, sensors, and photocatalysts of tungsten oxide-based materials have also been mentioned. We hope this article can shed light on the related applications of tungsten oxide-based materials and inspire new possibilities for further uses.

Phase transformation in tungsten oxide nanoplates as a function of post-annealing temperature and its electrochemical influence on energy storage

The morphology and crystal structure of electrode materials have an enormous impact on their electrochemical properties for employment in supercapacitors for various applications. In this study, the transformations of the crystal structure of WO3·H2O nanoplates were conducted by post-annealing at 200 °C and 400 °C. The morphological and structural evolution of the electrodes was studied via FEG-SEM, HRTEM, FTIR, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy. The phase transition and enhanced degree of crystallinity were observed with increasing temperature. The orthorhombic structures of the hydrate WO3·H2O (W80), the mixed-phase with mesoporous structure (W200), and finally the monoclinic phase of WO3 structures (W400) were achieved at annealing temperatures of 80 °C, 200 °C, and 400 °C respectively. The electrochemical performance of electrode W200 showed the highest specific capacitance of 606 F g-1 as compared to electrode W80 (361 F g-1), and was two-fold greater than electrode W400 (302 F g-1) at a current density of 1 A g-1. Moreover, electrode W200 exhibited excellent cyclic stability of 89% at an ultrahigh scan rate of 100 mV s-1 after 4000 cycles. The results highlight that the mixed-phase WO3 nanoplates would make a suitable electrode material for supercapacitors with desired electrochemical features.