Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
197,768 studies31 sourcesUpdated 29 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BYNature Communications

All-water supercapacitor enabled by 1-nm clay channels

  • Vasily G. Artemov1,2
  • Svetlana Babiy3
  • Yunfei Teng3
  • Jiaming Ma3
  • Alexander Ryzhov4
  • Tzu‐Heng Chen3
  • Lucie Navratilova3
  • Victor Boureau3
  • Pascal Schouwink3
  • М. V. Liseanskaia5
  • Patrick Huber6,5
  • Fikile Richard Brushett7
3 more authors
  • Lyesse Laloui3
  • Giulia Tagliabue3
  • Aleksandra Rađenović3
7 affiliations
  1. 1Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany. [email protected]
  2. 2École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. [email protected]
  3. 3École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
  4. 4Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria
  5. 5Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany
  6. 6Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany
  7. 7Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Water confined to channels one nanometer thick exhibits electrochemical behavior distinct from bulk water, including enhanced protonic conductivity and large dielectric anisotropy. Here, we exploit these characteristics to design a scalable electrochemical energy storage system-a “blue capacitor”-constructed entirely from naturally abundant materials. By assembling layered clays and conductive graphene, we produce 1-nm-thick channels in which confined water acts as the sole electrolyte. We systematically study different clay types, the electrode composition, and separator thickness using complementary physicochemical and electrochemical techniques. The device operates stably up to 1.6 ± 0.1 V, achieves specific capacitances of 40 F g −1 , 97 ± 2% coulombic efficiency, and stable performance over more than 60,000 charge-discharge cycles at a voltage window of 1 V and a scan rate of 10 mA. Structural and dynamic analyses validate the device architecture, water purity, and proton transport in the nanopores. These results demonstrate that nanoconfined water can function as an electrolyte in a macroscopic electrochemical device, providing a platform for exploring sustainable aqueous energy storage systems.

Related

  1. Trimethylammonium-Substituted Amphiphilic Pillar[ n ]arene Channels for Selective Water Permeation
    Dan-Dan Su, Tan-Hao Shi, Tomoki Ogoshi +1
    Journal of the American Chemical SocietyPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textOrganic chemistryHAL
  2. Water-Responsive Shape-Memory Origami Enabled by a Washi–Bulk pNIPAAm Hydrogel Hybrid Sheet
    Kohei Murata, Hiroaki Suzuki
    ChemRxivPreprintCC BYFull textGeneral chemistryChemRxiv
  3. Doped Non-Ti MXenes for Supercapacitor Applications
    Ramaswamy Sandeep Perala, Radha Gupta, Chandan Kumar Maity
    Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)Peer-reviewedCC BYFull textMaterials & polymersEurope PMC
  4. Interfacial Engineering of 2D/2D BiVO4/V2CTx Heterostructures for Enhanced Symmetric Supercapacitor Performance Across Various Electrolytes
    Sana Akir, Roussin Lontio Fomekong, Lukas Dekanovský +3
    ChemRxivPreprintLicence not statedGeneral chemistryChemRxiv
  5. From hard carbon to activated carbon: influence of surface area and pore structure on the electrochemical performance of coconut rachis-derived supercapacitor electrodes
    Devu Bindhu, M. S. Gayathri, Anju Ramachandran +3
    Scientific ReportsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textMaterials & polymersCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{artemov2026allwater,
  title = {{All-water supercapacitor enabled by 1-nm clay channels}},
  author = {Vasily G. Artemov and Svetlana Babiy and Yunfei Teng and Jiaming Ma and Alexander Ryzhov and Tzu‐Heng Chen and Lucie Navratilova and Victor Boureau and Pascal Schouwink and М. V. Liseanskaia and Patrick Huber and Fikile Richard Brushett and Lyesse Laloui and Giulia Tagliabue and Aleksandra Rađenović},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = jun,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-73924-1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73924-1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - All-water supercapacitor enabled by 1-nm clay channels
AU  - Vasily G. Artemov
AU  - Svetlana Babiy
AU  - Yunfei Teng
AU  - Jiaming Ma
AU  - Alexander Ryzhov
AU  - Tzu‐Heng Chen
AU  - Lucie Navratilova
AU  - Victor Boureau
AU  - Pascal Schouwink
AU  - М. V. Liseanskaia
AU  - Patrick Huber
AU  - Fikile Richard Brushett
AU  - Lyesse Laloui
AU  - Giulia Tagliabue
AU  - Aleksandra Rađenović
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/05
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-73924-1
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73924-1
AB  - Water confined to channels one nanometer thick exhibits electrochemical behavior distinct from bulk water, including enhanced protonic conductivity and large dielectric anisotropy. Here, we exploit these characteristics to design a scalable electrochemical energy storage system-a “blue capacitor”-constructed entirely from naturally abundant materials. By assembling layered clays and conductive graphene, we produce 1-nm-thick channels in which confined water acts as the sole electrolyte. We systematically study different clay types, the electrode composition, and separator thickness using complementary physicochemical and electrochemical techniques. The device operates stably up to 1.6 ± 0.1 V, achieves specific capacitances of 40 F g −1 , 97 ± 2% coulombic efficiency, and stable performance over more than 60,000 charge-discharge cycles at a voltage window of 1 V and a scan rate of 10 mA. Structural and dynamic analyses validate the device architecture, water purity, and proton transport in the nanopores. These results demonstrate that nanoconfined water can function as an electrolyte in a macroscopic electrochemical device, providing a platform for exploring sustainable aqueous energy storage systems.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -