News
AEIL undergraduate researchers Misha Bekeris and Samuel Engebretsen have been selected to participate in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program for Fall 2019 semester.
Congrats to Misha and Samuel!
For more info on UROP, visit: https://our.utah.edu/urop/
Congrats to Nolan Ingersoll, Zahra Karimi, Dhruv Patel, and Robert Underwood for their recently published article in Electrochemica Acta!
Nolan Ingersoll, Zahra Karimi, Dhruv Patel, Robert Underwood, and Roseanne Warren, “Metal Organic Framework-Derived Carbon Structures for Sodium-Ion Battery Anodes,” Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 297, pp. 129-136, 2019
Abstract:
Metal organic framework-derived carbons (MOFDCs) have great potential as electrochemical energy storage materials due to their large surface areas and highly tunable pore structures. In this work, two MOFDCs are tested as sodium-ion battery anode materials and their charge storage mechanisms compared. MOF5 (Zn4O(1,4-benzodicarboxylate)3) and ZIF8 (Zn(2-methylimidazole)2) were used as sacrificial templates and pyrolyzed to yield highly porous, structurally-robust carbons with high surface areas (MOF5DC and ZIF8DC). Undoped ZIF8DC was tested for the first time as a sodium-ion battery anode to enable comparison of MOFDC charge storage mechanisms based solely on carbon structure. Half-cell discharge tests at C/2 attain capacity values of 227 and 107 mAh/g for MOF5DC and undoped ZIF8DC, respectively. Cycling stability testing confirms the structural robustness of the MOFDC materials, with the anodes retaining between 84-89% capacity over 66 cycles. Discharge profiles for both materials indicate that the primary storage mechanism of MOF5DC and ZIF8DC anodes is adsorption at defect sites. A comparison of half-cell discharge, cycling rate, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements suggests that MOF5DC also demonstrates some nanopore filling mechanisms. A comparison of Na+ion diffusion coefficients for MOF5DC and ZIF8DC indicates that an MOF structure with increased pore size may improve capacity and rate performance of MOFDCs as anode materials for sodium-ion battery cell applications.
PI Warren has received a University of Utah Research Instrumentation Award “Electrochemistry package for in-situ TEM”. The award will enable the in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of electrochemical systems using the University of Utah Surface Analysis Lab JEOL JEM S/TEM and Protochips Poseidon Select liquid flow cell. Stay tuned for exciting results from our in-situ TEM imaging studies!
Prof. Warren is a co-PI on an NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program award “Acquisition of a 3D Nano-lithography System” (PI: Steven Blair, Co-PIs: Alonso Moreno, Roseanne Warren, Christopher Reiche, and Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez). The award will support the acquisition of the Nanoscribe 3D Photonic Pro GT, a two-photon polymerization laser lithography tool for 3D printing of micro and nanoscale parts.
(Image credit: University of Utah Nanofab)
Congratulations to Katherine Vega for receiving UROP funding for her research work on sodium-ion battery anode materials!
PI Warren has received a research funding award from NSF’s Nanomanufacturing Program to study the use of nanoscale microfluidic devices for monolayer-by-monolayer coating of nanoparticles. Read more about the award on the ME department website and NSF award page. The research project is in collaboration with PI Ryan Sochol at the University of Maryland. Talha Razaulla will be the primary AEIL student on this project.
Congratulations to Nolan Ingersoll for presenting his work “MOF-Derived Carbons As Ordered Isoreticular Structures for High Performance Sodium-Ion Battery Anode” at the battery symposium of the 233rd Electrochemical Society Meeting in Seattle, WA.
Congrats to Nolan Ingersoll for successfully defending his MS thesis!
PI Warren has been recognized by the editors of the Royal Society of Chemistry New Journal of Chemistry as an Outstanding Reviewer in 2017.
Congrats to Virginia Diaz for successfully defending her MS thesis!