CTAB-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of platelike and nanorod-like NiMoO4 morphologies for supercapacitor and hydrogen evolution applications

Abstract

In this work, the α-NiMoO4 nanostructures were directly grown on nickel foam with platelike and nanorod-like morphologies by using the various amounts of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as surfactant. The structural, microstructural, and electrochemical properties were explored as a function of CTAB contents. The particular morphology was transformed to platelike and nanorod-like by increasing the amounts of CTAB surfactant. The nanorod-like α-NiMoO4 sample showed the highest specific capacity of 2226 Fg−1 at 1 Ag−1 and highest capability rate of 80 % by increasing the current density up to 5 Ag−1. Moreover, the α-NiMoO4 electrodes with nanorod-like morphology had the highest electrocatalytic activity, including the lowest overpotential of −177 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and the lowest Tafel slope of 79 mV dec−1.