CuCo^sub 2^O^sub 4^ flowers/Ni-foam architecture as a battery type positive electrode for high performance hybrid supercapacitor applications

• Published in: Electrochimica acta 2017-06, Vol.238, p.99
• Main Authors: Vijayakumar, Subbukalai, Nagamuthu, Sadayappan, Ryu, Kwang-Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Batteries; Charge transfer; Consumer electronics; Electric vehicles; Electrochemical analysis; Electrodes; Field emission microscopy; Flow resistance; Flowers; High resolution; Nanostructured materials; Petals; Scanning electron microscopy; Stability; Supercapacitors; Transmission electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0013-4686; 1873-3859

The battery type CuCo2O4 electrode was evaluated as a positive electrode material for its hybrid supercapacitor applications. CuCo2O4 flowers were prepared on Ni-foam through a simple hydrothermal process and post calcination treatment. The structure and morphology of the CuCo2O4 flowers/Ni-foam was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. FESEM clearly revealed the flower-like morphology, which was composed of large number of petals. The length and width of the petals ranged from approximately 5-8 µm and approximately 50-150 nm, respectively. The CuCo2O4 flowers/Ni-foam electrode was employed for electrochemical characterization for hybrid supercapacitor applications. The specific capacity of the CuCo2O4 flower-like electrode was 692.4C g-1 (192.3 mA h g-1) at a scan rate of 5 mV s-1. The flower-like CuCo2O4 electrode exhibited a maximum specific capacity of 645.1C g-1 (179.2 mA h g-1) at a specific current of 1 A g-1 and good long term cyclic stability. The high specific capacity, good cyclic stability, and low internal and charge transfer resistance of the CuCo2O4 flowers/Ni-foam electrode confirmed the suitability of the prepared material as a positive electrode for hybrid supercapacitor applications.