{"id":{"repo_id":"cambridge","oai_identifier":"oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/390766"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cambridge/oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/390766","repository":{"repo_id":"cambridge","name":"Cambridge University","base_url":"https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Novel Techniques and Electrolytes for Energy Storage Devices","abstract":"Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) may offer a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to lithium batteries given the significantly higher natural abundance of sodium than lithium. The SIB electrolyte must transport ions efficiently to achieve good battery performance. Here, a range of new sodium borate and aluminate electrolyte salts provided by collaborators were investigated for their suitability. Several techniques were applied to measure key physical properties of the novel sodium electrolytes, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance and viscometry. Collectively, these results have been used to quantitatively identify promising candidates for applications in SIBs. Supercapacitors are high power energy storage devices that store energy by the formation of double layers at the electrode surfaces. However, the molecular structure of the double layer is poorly understood. Here, neutron reflectometry (NR) and attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy were developed to study the supercapacitor double layer in situ. A custom cell was designed to study the supercapacitor electrode-electrolyte interface using NR in situ. Several electrode materials were investigated to determine their structure and suitability for studying the double layer. Significant effort was spent to craft a ‘realistic’ graphene electrode. Despite employing a number of state-of-the-art approaches from the literature, data collected here suggested that none of these could remove a thin layer of residual polymer on the graphene surface, used for transfer. This raises concerns for other graphene studies less able to identify the polymer than NR. Due to limited availability of neutron beamtime, we took the opportunity to develop a complementary custom cell for in situ ATR-IR spectroscopy. Careful selection of candidate ATR crystals suggested germanium could be optimal for use as an electrode to study the double layer in situ. However, unexpectedly the germanium was found to undergo chemical changes to the crystal surface over time and a particularly complex optical response was repeatedly observed with applied voltage, which complicated interpretation.","abstract_html":"Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) may offer a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to lithium batteries given the significantly higher natural abundance of sodium than lithium. The SIB electrolyte must transport ions efficiently to achieve good battery performance. Here, a range of new sodium borate and aluminate electrolyte salts provided by collaborators were investigated for their suitability. Several techniques were applied to measure key physical properties of the novel sodium electrolytes, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance and viscometry. Collectively, these results have been used to quantitatively identify promising candidates for applications in SIBs. Supercapacitors are high power energy storage devices that store energy by the formation of double layers at the electrode surfaces. However, the molecular structure of the double layer is poorly understood. Here, neutron reflectometry (NR) and attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy were developed to study the supercapacitor double layer in situ. A custom cell was designed to study the supercapacitor electrode-electrolyte interface using NR in situ. Several electrode materials were investigated to determine their structure and suitability for studying the double layer. Significant effort was spent to craft a ‘realistic’ graphene electrode. Despite employing a number of state-of-the-art approaches from the literature, data collected here suggested that none of these could remove a thin layer of residual polymer on the graphene surface, used for transfer. This raises concerns for other graphene studies less able to identify the polymer than NR. Due to limited availability of neutron beamtime, we took the opportunity to develop a complementary custom cell for in situ ATR-IR spectroscopy. Careful selection of candidate ATR crystals suggested germanium could be optimal for use as an electrode to study the double layer in situ. However, unexpectedly the germanium was found to undergo chemical changes to the crystal surface over time and a particularly complex optical response was repeatedly observed with applied voltage, which complicated interpretation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Smith, Holly"],"institution":"University of Cambridge","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Clarke, Stuart","Grey, Clare"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-06-20","date_published":"2024-06-20","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:57Z","subjects":["Batteries","Chemistry","Electrochemistry","Energy storage","Supercapacitors","Surface science"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/d6c6ffe1-985d-445e-942a-a68c60d1bf58/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:creator.authoridentifier","label":"Author Identifier","values":["0000000233896259"],"render_values":[{"text":"0000-0002-3389-6259","href":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3389-6259","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.122222","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.doi"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Clarke, Stuart","Grey, Clare"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["EPSRC studentship: EP/R513180/1"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Smith, Holly"]},{"key":"dc:creator.authoridentifier","label":"Author Identifier","values":["0000000233896259"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2024-06-20"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cambridge"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/390766"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Batteries","Chemistry","Electrochemistry","Energy storage","Supercapacitors","Surface science"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/d6c6ffe1-985d-445e-942a-a68c60d1bf58/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargodate","label":"Dc Rights Embargodate","values":["2026-10-13"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargotype","label":"Dc Rights Embargotype","values":["embargo"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.122222"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/70b35859-6e40-45ac-9f7c-b73d750c9056/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) may offer a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to lithium batteries given the significantly higher natural abundance of sodium than lithium. The SIB electrolyte must transport ions efficiently to achieve good battery performance. Here, a range of new sodium borate and aluminate electrolyte salts provided by collaborators were investigated for their suitability. Several techniques were applied to measure key physical properties of the novel sodium electrolytes, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance and viscometry. Collectively, these results have been used to quantitatively identify promising candidates for applications in SIBs. Supercapacitors are high power energy storage devices that store energy by the formation of double layers at the electrode surfaces. However, the molecular structure of the double layer is poorly understood. Here, neutron reflectometry (NR) and attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy were developed to study the supercapacitor double layer in situ. A custom cell was designed to study the supercapacitor electrode-electrolyte interface using NR in situ. Several electrode materials were investigated to determine their structure and suitability for studying the double layer. Significant effort was spent to craft a ‘realistic’ graphene electrode. Despite employing a number of state-of-the-art approaches from the literature, data collected here suggested that none of these could remove a thin layer of residual polymer on the graphene surface, used for transfer. This raises concerns for other graphene studies less able to identify the polymer than NR. Due to limited availability of neutron beamtime, we took the opportunity to develop a complementary custom cell for in situ ATR-IR spectroscopy. Careful selection of candidate ATR crystals suggested germanium could be optimal for use as an electrode to study the double layer in situ. However, unexpectedly the germanium was found to undergo chemical changes to the crystal surface over time and a particularly complex optical response was repeatedly observed with applied voltage, which complicated interpretation."]},{"key":"dc:format.checksum.md5","label":"Dc Format Checksum Md5","values":["a9b2cbab94629d64eb98cbfd1774b271","87eda9de84448d1f82354d60eee3eb5f"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Novel Techniques and Electrolytes for Energy Storage Devices"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Clarke, Stuart","Grey, Clare"],"dc:contributor.sponsor":["EPSRC studentship: EP/R513180/1"],"dc:creator":["Smith, Holly"],"dc:creator.authoridentifier":["0000000233896259"],"dc:date.issued":["2024-06-20"],"dc:description.abstract":["Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) may offer a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to lithium batteries given the significantly higher natural abundance of sodium than lithium. The SIB electrolyte must transport ions efficiently to achieve good battery performance. Here, a range of new sodium borate and aluminate electrolyte salts provided by collaborators were investigated for their suitability. Several techniques were applied to measure key physical properties of the novel sodium electrolytes, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance and viscometry. Collectively, these results have been used to quantitatively identify promising candidates for applications in SIBs. Supercapacitors are high power energy storage devices that store energy by the formation of double layers at the electrode surfaces. However, the molecular structure of the double layer is poorly understood. Here, neutron reflectometry (NR) and attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy were developed to study the supercapacitor double layer in situ. A custom cell was designed to study the supercapacitor electrode-electrolyte interface using NR in situ. Several electrode materials were investigated to determine their structure and suitability for studying the double layer. Significant effort was spent to craft a ‘realistic’ graphene electrode. Despite employing a number of state-of-the-art approaches from the literature, data collected here suggested that none of these could remove a thin layer of residual polymer on the graphene surface, used for transfer. This raises concerns for other graphene studies less able to identify the polymer than NR. Due to limited availability of neutron beamtime, we took the opportunity to develop a complementary custom cell for in situ ATR-IR spectroscopy. Careful selection of candidate ATR crystals suggested germanium could be optimal for use as an electrode to study the double layer in situ. However, unexpectedly the germanium was found to undergo chemical changes to the crystal surface over time and a particularly complex optical response was repeatedly observed with applied voltage, which complicated interpretation."],"dc:format.checksum.md5":["a9b2cbab94629d64eb98cbfd1774b271","87eda9de84448d1f82354d60eee3eb5f"],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.122222"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/70b35859-6e40-45ac-9f7c-b73d750c9056/download"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cambridge"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/390766"],"dc:rights":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/d6c6ffe1-985d-445e-942a-a68c60d1bf58/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"],"dc:rights.embargodate":["2026-10-13"],"dc:rights.embargotype":["embargo"],"dc:subject":["Batteries","Chemistry","Electrochemistry","Energy storage","Supercapacitors","Surface science"],"dc:title":["Novel Techniques and Electrolytes for Energy Storage Devices"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:57Z"}