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Seminar Speaker: Ekaterina Pomerantseva, Drexel University

February 3, 2023 @ 11:00 am 12:00 pm

“Tuning the energy storage properties of nanostructured bilayered vanadium oxides through controlled synthesis”

Ekaterina Pomerantseva

Abstract

The chemical preintercalation synthesis approach is based on a low-temperature sol-gel process and it involves the incorporation of inorganic or organic ions into the structure of the growing oxide phase prior to electrochemical cycling. In this presentation, I will show that chemical preintercalation is a versatile method that can be used for the synthesis of a wide family of new oxide phases with layered structures, two-dimensional heterostructures and nanocomposites. I will present the effect of chemically preintercalated ions on the electrochemical performance of these new electrode materials in intercalation batteries. The stabilization effect enabled by the insertion of electrochemically inactive ions will be discussed. Additionally, the effect of low-temperature annealing on electrochemical stability and rate capability will be shown. The morphological diversity of the chemically preintercalated oxides will be revealed by discussing the role of the precursor. I will show that the chemical preintercalation of organic molecules can be used to prepare hybrid phases and nanocomposites. I will also demonstrate the first exfoliation of bilayered vanadium oxide leading to the formation of free-standing films composed of ultrathin nanoflakes. The materials and methods developed in this work have the potential to enable next-generation energy storage technologies.

Speaker Biography

Ekaterina Pomerantseva is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. She received a B.S. degree in Materials Science in 2000, an M.S. degree in Chemistry and Materials Science in 2003 from Lomonosov Moscow State University, an M.S. degree in Biochemistry in 2005 from McGill University, and a Ph.D. degree in Solid-State Chemistry in 2007 from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Prior to joining Drexel, she held postdoctoral appointments in the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland College Park (2010 – 2013) and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo (2009 – 2010). She has co-authored over 80 journal papers. In 2018, she was selected to receive a prestigious NSF CAREER award. She is a Scialog Fellow, Stein Fellow, and Erasmus Mundus Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion+ (MESC+) Program Scholar. Her research interests lie in the discovery and development of new solutions and next-generation systems for sustainable energy and a clean environment, with a focus on materials chemistry and electrochemistry as it relates to energy storage and water treatment. She leads the Material Electrochemistry Group, members of which design and apply chemical synthesis methods to obtain materials with the desired structure and advanced electrochemical properties, bridging the gap between chemistry and materials science. Her group develops chemical pathways that can be used to realize materials with tunable structures and compositions that exhibit high affinity towards ions in solutions, rapid electron and ion transport, and enhanced electrochemical stability. These properties are needed to realize electrochemically-driven energy storage and water purification devices with high performance.

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