Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of High Surface Area Sol-Gel Materials

Abstract : The sol-gel process enables one to create electrochemical materials with designed chemistry and microstructure. By controlling the chemistry of the process, one can prepare amorphous oxides or metastable phases with tailored morphology. In this paper we review our recent work directed at characterizing the fundamental electrochemical properties of vanadium oxide aerogels. Using a sticky-carbon electrode, we find that vanadium oxide aerogels combine both capacitor and battery-like behavior. Another direction for our work has involved the use of carbon nanotubes as the conducting network in a reversible electrode. These electrodes exhibit enhanced lithium capacity, especially at high rates, as compared to conventional composite electrodes.