Researchers have created a novel method to swiftly pinpoint the precise electrochemical processes occurring in batteries and supercapacitors of different compositions. This innovation could hasten the development of more effective energy storage technologies. The innovative approach developed by the researchers provides a technique to track the placement and motion of ions from electrolyte to electrode within an energy storage system. Their method combines cyclic voltammetry (CV), which measures the electrical current during charge-discharge cycles, with ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, a technique for figuring out a compound’s chemical makeup by how it absorbs light.
A range of electrode-electrolyte systems was used, and the team used UV-vis spectroscopy to study the electrochemical interaction in thin nanomaterial layers. Although this application of UV-vis spectroscopy has not often been made, the study’s electrode material‘s thinness and transparency made it possible for UV-vis spectroscopy to quantify the electrochemical changes that occurred during charging and discharging.
The scientists used UV-vis spectral data at the same intervals as the electrochemical processes to confirm their first findings. During this process, they concluded that it could synchronize visual UV-Vis spectral data with CV measurements of current, which would remove some of the uncertainty surrounding the electrochemical behavior they were trying to detect.
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