Electrode materials from hydrous metal and/or hydrous mixed metal oxides

摘要

An electrode material composed of hydrous metal oxide, such as ruthenium oxide, is annealed up to temperature just below the temperature at which the hydrous metal oxide would crystallize. Therefore, the hydrous metal oxide remains amorphous or non-crystalline. A hydrous metal oxide material treated in this manner provides a charge storage capacity and energy density greater than 747 F/g and 92 joules/gram, respectively, over 1 V range in a sulfuric acid electrolyte. This invention also provides a method of material preparation, wherein a sol-gel process is used to fabricate the hydrous metal oxides and wherein commercially available hydrous ruthenium oxide powders are treated and annealed.