Facile microwave‐assisted synthesis of Ce‐doped Bi2O3 for efficient hybrid supercapacitors

Abstract

AbstractBismuth trioxide (BT) is considered a fascinating anode material for hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs) due to its high theoretical capacity, but the low conductivity limits further applications. With this in mind, Ce‐doped Bi2O3 (Ce‐BT) nanoflower spheres were synthesized by a facile and rapid microwave‐assisted solvothermal method for HSCs anode materials. It is found that the morphology of BT could be controlled by Ce doping from stacked nanosheets to well‐dispersed nanoflowers spheres and producing abundant amorphous regions, thus expediting the ion transport rate. Consequently, when the added Bi to Ce molar ratio is 40:1 (Ce‐BT‐40), it exhibited a specific capacity of 220 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1. Additionally, when fabricating HSCs with as‐prepared Ce‐BT‐40 and CeNiCo‐LDH, an energy density of 59.1 Wh kg−1 is provided at a power density of 652 W kg−1. This work not only reveals the mechanism of the effect of Ce doping on the electrochemical properties of BTs, but also proposes a rapid synthesis method of Ce‐BTs by microwave‐assisted solvent method, which provides new insights for building advanced HSCs with high energy density and low cost.