Photoelectrochemical performances of ZnO electrodes are enhanced by coupling with cobalt-based catalyst (CoPi) in phosphate electrolyte (pH 7). For this study, hexagonal pillar-shaped ZnO nanorods are grown on ZnO electrodes through a chemical bath deposition, onto which CoPi is deposited with different photodeposition times (10-30 min). A scanning electron microscopic study indicates that CoPi deposition does not induce any change of ZnO morphology and an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopic analysis shows that inorganic phosphate ions (Pi) exist on ZnO surface. Bare ZnO electrodes generate the current of ca. at a bias potential of 0.5 V vs. SCE, whereas ZnO/CoPi (deposited for 10 min) has ca. 50%-enhanced current () under irradiation of AM 1.5G-light (). The excess loading of CoPi on ZnO results in decrease of photocurrents as compared to bare ZnO likely due to limited electrolyte access to ZnO and/or CoPi-mediated recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. The primary role of CoPi is speculated to trap the photogenerated holes and thereby oxidize water into molecular oxygen via an intervalency cycle among Co(II), Co(III), and Co(IV).

The influences of the thickness and microstructure of Fe layer on the electrochemical performances of Fe/Si multilayer thin film anodes were investigated. The Fe/Si multilayer films were prepared by electron beam evaporation, in which Fe layer was deposited with/without simultaneous bombardment of Ar ion. The kinetics of Li insertion/extraction reactions in the early stage are slowed down with increasing the thickness of Fe layer, but such a slowdown seems to be negligible for thin Fe layers less than about . When the Fe layer was deposited with ion bombardment, even the thick Fe layer significantly suppress Li diffusion through the Fe layer. This is attributed to the dense microstructure of Fe layer, induced by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). It appears that the Fe/Si multilayer films prepared with IBAD show good cyclability compared to the film deposited without IBAD.

A polymer electrolyte was prepared by using polyvinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVdF-HFP) or poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) as polymer matrices, succinonitrile as an additive, and lithium perchlorate as a lithium salt. Compared to the polymer electrolyte employing PVdF-HFP, the PEGDMA-based polymer electrolyte exhibits substantially superior thermal stability when exposed to high temperatures. Nonetheless, the ionic conductivity of the PEGDMA-based polymer electrolyte was preserved in a wide temperature range between and .

Thin film electrodes have been intensively studied for active materials and current collectors to enhance the electrochemical performance. Here, porous structures of nickel-based oxide films, consisting of nickel oxide and copper (II) oxide, which was derived from the copper substrate during the annealing process, were deposited on metallic copper foils. The half-cell tests revealed excellent capacity retention after charge/discharge cycles. Some films showed an excess of the theoretical capacity of nickel oxides, which mainly originate from partially oxidized copper substrates during annealing. These results exhibit that both a preparation method of an active materials and partially oxidized current collectors could be important roles to apply thin film electrodes.

Flexible sheets consisting of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) and carbon nanotube (CNT) are newly prepared varying the composition (CNT 20-25 wt.%) for use as a current collector of supercapacitor electrodes. The as-prepared CNT/NBR is electrodeposited with aniline using potentiodynamic cyclic voltammetry to yield a polyaniline (PANI)/CNT/NBR composite electrode. It is confirmed that the electrical conductivity of CNT/NBR current collector can be enhanced as the content of CNT increases. Cyclic voltammetry result shows that the sample of PANI/CNT(25 wt.%)/NBR composite achieves a maximum specific capacitance () at . Such supercapacitor application is possibly originated from the synergistic effects consisting of higher polarity of nitrile groups in NBR, conducting pathway of CNT, and electroactive property of PANI.