In situ Ru K-edge XAFS Studies of Electroprecipitated Ruthenium Dioxide Films with Relevance to Supercapacitor Applications

摘要

The nature of the electrochemical processes associated with the rather unique capacitive behavior of RuO_2 in strongly acidic electrolytes continues to elude unambiguous identification.Much of the effort in our laboratory has been aimed at monitoring in situ changes in the electronic and structural properties of this material in a Nafion-based supercapacitor type environment as a function of the applied potential using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS).Although the feasibility of such type of measurements was clearly demonstrated,the changes observed in the Ru K-edge features as the state of charge of the capacitor was varied were found to be very small.