Effect of electrolyte additive NaHCO₃ on electrochemical performance of porous niobium nitride fibers

Abstract

Supercapacitors have become a new type of energy storage device widely used due to their high efficiency, fast speed and good cycle stability, and electrode material is a key issue restricting their development. The porous niobium nitride fibers were prepared by electrospinning combined with reduction nitride technology using pentachloride as raw material, and Nb4N5||Nb4N5 symmetrical button capacitance was prepared. In order to improve the electrochemical performance of electrode material, NaHCO3 was added into Na2SO4 electrolyte. The results show that the prepared niobium nitride fiber exhibits a tetragonal phase, continuous and porous on the surface. The porous niobium nitride electrode has two mechanisms of electric double layer and pseudocapacitive energy storage. The specific capacitance of the capacitor increases to 187 F·g-1 with the NaHCO3 addition of 15 mmol·dm-3. The buffering effect inhibits the dissolution of niobium nitride, effectively reduces the solution resistance, the solution impedance R1 and the diffusion impedance WR reduce to 1.22 Ω and 1.47 Ω respectively and the ionic conductivity improves. The carrier concentration increases to 6.58×1024 cm3, and the relaxation time of the capacitor is shortened to 0.24 s at the same time.

Keywords

• energy crisis
• supercapacitor
• niobium nitride fiber
• electrolyte
• electrochemistry