A facile route to preparation of Co3O4 nanoplates and investigation of their charge storage ability as electrode material for supercapacitors

Abstract

A fast, cheap and facile method was developed for the preparation of Co3O4 nanoplates at large-scale. According to this method, initially β-Co(OH)2 nanoplates were prepared through a simple, template- and additive-free electrodeposition route and then the Co3O4 nanoplates were obtained via the calcination of the hydroxide precursor at 500 °C for 3 h, under an O2 atmosphere. The products were characterized by XRD, IR, DCS-TG and SEM techniques, and electrochemical investigations by cyclic voltammetry, charge–discharge tests and EIS measurements, which confirmed the excellent supercapacitive performance of the Co3O4 nanoplates including their high contribution and electrochemical utilization in the redox reactions, reversible redox reactions, low diffusion resistance, high specific capacitance of 485 F g−1, and an 84.1 % capacity retention after 3000 cycling at the applied discharge current density of 5 A g−1.