Work

Hydrogen‐Bonded Chemical Energy Storage Mechanism of Ruthenium Oxide‐Coated Porous Silicon Nanowires

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Aqueous ammonium ion‐based (NH 4 + ) hybrid supercapacitors (AAHSCs) are attracting great attention because of their excellent electrochemical performance and environmental friendliness. Silicon nanowires have attracted extensive attention due to their unique physical/chemical properties that make them appealing in emerging energy conversion and storage applications. In this work, porous silicon nanowires (p‐SiNWs) were used as scaffolds to coat RuO 2 nanospheres by hydrothermal treatment. The as‐prepared RuO 2 nanospheres completely encapsulate the silicon nanowires, providing abundant active sites for NH 4 + attachment. The O‐atoms in RuO 2 combine with NH 4 + to form hydrogen bonds (H‐bonds), which greatly improve the electrochemical performance by promoting the charges transport through H‐bonds formation/breaking during charging/discharging. In comparison with pure p‐SiNWs, RuO 2 @p‐SiNWs electrode exhibits a higher areal capacitance of 128 mF/cm 2 at 0.1 mA. The capacitor is prepared with RuO 2 @p‐SiNWs as the cathode and activated carbon (AC) as the anode, separated by (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 electrolyte, achieving an aerial capacitance of 35.9 mF/cm 2 at the current of 0.2 mA. The proposed concept opens new avenue for developing advanced high‐energy‐density cathode materials for AAHSCs.

Source: Chemistry - A European Journal

DOI: 10.1002/chem.71116