Cell Components – Electrodes | Nanoelectrodes

This chapter deals with the preparation, characterization, electrochemical behavior and application of arrays of nanoelectrodes for electrochemical power sources. Different preparation methods are presented, focusing on membrane templated deposition, seed-mediated growth and hydrothermal synthesis. Arrays of inlaid nanoelectrodes are preferred for advanced electroanalytical and sensing purposes, where the Faradaic to capacitive current ratio need to be maximized, while complex 3D architectures are of particular interest for application requiring high specific surface and composed by high aspect ratio nanomaterials, such as for batteries, supercapacitors and photoelectrochemical devices. The way how the morphology of the array influences its electrochemical behavior is discussed, together with some fundamentals concerning the electrochemical characterization. Finally, recent examples of studies on arrays of nanoelectrodes in batteries and supercapacitors are presented.