Enhancement of electrochemical properties of hydrous ruthenium oxide nanoparticles coated on chemically activated carbon cloth for solid-state symmetrical supercapacitor application

Abstract

Electrochemical performance of bare carbon cloth (BCC) and chemically activated carbon cloth (CACC) as current collectors were studied for supercapacitor applications. The prepared hydrous ruthenium oxide nanoparticles (H–RuO2NPs) using gallic acid monohydrate coated on both BCC and CACC and employed as pseudocapacitive electrodes in aqueous neutral (1 M Na2SO4) electrolyte. The specific capacitance obtained for H–RuO2NPs coated on CACC (H–RuO2NPs@CACC) using constant current charge-discharge measurements was 837 F g−1 at a current density of 2 A g−1 which was 3.87 times higher than the H–RuO2NPs coated on BCC (H–RuO2NPs@BCC). Moreover, the capacitance retention rate for H–RuO2NPs@CACC and H–RuO2NPs@BCC was 97.54% and 95.8% after 5000 cycles at 20 Ag-1 respectively. Furthermore, the symmetrical supercapacitor (SS) fabricated using H–RuO2NPs@CACC electrodes delivers the capacitance up to 796 Fg- 1 at 2 mVs−1 with capacitance retention of 91.8% after 5000 cycles at 10 Ag-1 for total mass loading of 10 mg cm−2 in hydrogel polymer electrolyte (PVA- Na2SO4). The energy density of SS was 156 Wh kg−1 at a current density of 5 A g−1. The obtained results of SS suggest that the H–RuO2NPs@CACC electrode can be utilized for a high-performance energy storage device.