By selecting two electroactive species immobilized in a layered double hydroxide backbone (LDH) host, one able to act as a positive electrode material and the other as a negative one, it was possible to match their capacity to design an innovative energy storage device. Each electrode material is based on electroactive species, riboflavin phosphate (RF) on one side and ferrocene carboxylate (FCm) on the other, both interleaved into a layered double hydroxide (LDH) host structure to avoid any possible molecule migration and instability. The intercalation of the electroactive guest molecules is demonstrated by X-ray diffraction with the observation of an interlayer LDH spacing of about 2 nm in each case. When successfully hosted into LDH interlayer space, the electrochemical behavior of each hybrid assembly was scrutinized separately in aqueous electrolyte to characterize the redox reaction occurring upon cycling and found to be a rapid faradic type. Both electrode materials were placed face to face to achieve a new aqueous battery (16C rate) that provides a first cycle-capacity of about 7 mAh per gram of working electrode material LDH/FCm at 10 mV/s over a voltage window of 2.2 V in 1M sodium acetate, thus validating the hybrid LDH host approach on both electrode materials even if the cyclability of the assembly has not yet been met.

A layered double hydroxide (LDH) compound LDH ([Mg2Al(OH)6]+ x 2 H2O) intercalated with a redox active organic anion, Anthraquinone-2-sulfonate (AQS), has been envisioned as an electrode material for high power aqueous based battery. The purpose is to use this interlayer redox active molecule for enhancement of the specific capacity at the LDH composite electrode, which should allow fast charge transfer at the negative electrode for high-power storage applications. This is achieved by the reduction of AQS in charge and oxidation in discharge within a redox inactive LDH matrix. The first charge of this new material [Mg2Al(OH)6]+[AQSO3]- x 2 H2O leads to a capacity of 100 mAh g-1 at - 0.78 V vs. Ag/AgCl (based on the weight of the active material) when operated in aqueous 1 M sodium acetate electrolyte. However, low cycling stability was observed because a drastic loss in specific capacity occurs after the first charge. This study focuses at elucidating the mechanism behind this phenomenon via in-situ UV/vis experiments. Subsequently, the dissolution of charged AQS anions into the electrolyte during the first charge of the anode has been identified and quantified. Such understanding of fading mechanism might lead to the design of improved LDH-based electrodes.

Nanostructure control is an important issue when using electroactive materials in energy conversion and storage devices. In this study, we report various methods of synthesis of nanostructured copper (II) hydroxide nitrate (Cu 2 (OH) 3 NO 3 ) with a layered hydroxide salt (LHS) structure using various synthesis methods and investigate the correlation between nanostructure, morphology, and their pseudocapacitive electrochemical behavior. The variations in nanostructure size and morphology were comprehensively explored by combining X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the electrochemical activity was characterized using cyclic voltammetry. We demonstrate that Cu 2 (OH) 3 NO 3 −LHS nanostructured submicron particles produced by alkaline precipitation with 88% of the copper cations can cycle with a two-electron redox process. Unfortunately, the electroactivity decreases rapidly from the first cycle due to the occurrence of structural transformations and subsequent electrochemical grinding. However, samples obtained by ultrasonication and microwave synthesis, two original synthesis methods for LHS materials, formed of nanosized crystalline domains agglomerated in micron-sized particles, represent a good compromise between capacity and cyclability. Moreover, by using pair distribution function analysis on electrode materials after repeated cycling, we were able to follow the chemical and structural changes occurring in Cu 2 (OH) 3 NO 3 materials during electrochemical cycling with first a quick transformation to Cu 2 O and then the appearance of Cu metal and copper acetate Cu(II) 2 (O 2 CCH 3 ) 4 •2H 2 O.