Tantalum and niobium application in energy storage industry

What is niobium & tantalum?

Niobium (Nb) and tantalum (Ta), transition metals with distinct physical and chemical properties, are highly attractive for applications in electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices. Their oxides, dichalcogenides, and MXenes demonstrate significant potential due to effective ion-diffusion channels and high theoretical capacity.

What processes are used in the production of tantalum niobium compounds?

For the production of tantalum and niobium compounds such as oxides, chlorides, carbides and metals a variety of different processes have been developed. Among these, liquid-liquid extraction, chlorination, sodium reduction, alumina therrnie and carbothermic reduction, electron beam- and arc-melting are the most important ones.

How are tantalum and niobium metals purified?

Additional purification of tantalum (and niobium) metal is carried out in tonnage scale via arc and electron beam melting. Today EB-furnaces up to 2 MW are used for purifying and melting Ta-ingots ofup to 30 cm diameter and Nb-ingots of up to 40 cm diameter (Albrecht and Ingalls 1983).

What are niobium based materials for energy storage?

Niobium based materials for energy storage As the main storage device for portable electronic products and power systems, LIB has the advantages of high energy density, long cycle life, and good environmental compatibility, which plays a crucial role in our daily life.

Can niobium based materials be optimized by carbon phase?

To date, the optimization mechanism of metal on niobium-based materials is not clear, and relative mechanism research is still lacking. The co-optimization of Nb-based materials by carbon phase has been drawn more attention.

Does niobium based system have a gain effect on energy storage?

Different from the cell volume change by doping, the new phase structure generated by multiplex has direct gain effect on energy storage. Among niobium-based systems, the structure of multi-element oxide being well studied is M–Nb–O (M is the metal element).