Volker Presser - A tale of two technologies: capacitive deionization and supercapacitors

The interfacial process of reversible ion electrosorption at the interface of a liquid electrolyte and a solid electrode enables not only fast energy storage via electrical double-layer capacitors but also effective water desalination via capacitive deionization (CDI). Both technologies share similarities, such as the usefulness of highly nanoporous carbon as the electrode material, careful design of surface functional groups, and the importance of adequately choosing the electrochemical operation parameters in respect to the electrolyte stability window.

Présentation de l'intervenant

Prof. Dr. Volker Presser is Chair of Energy Materials at the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials and Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany. He graduated with distinction in 2009 from the Eberhard-Karls-University in Tübingen, Germany. From 2010 to 2012, we worked on nanoporous carbons and MXene for energy storage as a Humboldt Research Fellow and Research Assistant Professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA, in the team of Prof. Yury Gogotsi. In 2012, he became Young Investigator and Assistant Professor at the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials and Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, and was promoted to Full Professor and Program Division Leader in 2015. Today, his group synthesizes, characterizes, and applies functional nanomaterials for energy storage (supercapacitors, redox electrolytes, batteries), and water treatment applications.

The presentation will review the history, science, and technology that make CDI “just differently operated supercapacitors” and investigate the fundamental limitations of ion electrosorption for desalination.

ISEECap 2019

ISEECap 2019 (International Symposium on Enhanced Electrochemical Capacitors) gathered the most renowned international experts together with students and non-specialist engineers and researchers who share interest in electrochemical capacitors. A broad range of topics was covered, including electrochemical double layer capacitors, pseudocapacitive materials and related mechanisms, electrolytes and interfaces, modelling of phenomena and systems, microsupercapacitors and related components, systems integration and applications, fast charging battery electrodes for asymmetric and hybrid devices, characterization techniques, in-situ and operando methods. This edition celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the symposium series in the beautiful city of Nantes from 6th May to 10th May 2019.